PRICE,   FIFTEEN    CENTS. 


THE 


WATSEKA  WONDER; 

A  Startling  and  Instructive  Psychological  Study,  and  well 

Authenticated  Instance  of  Angelic 

Visitation. 

A  NARRATIVE  OK  THE  LEADING  PHENOMENA  OCCURRING  IN  THE  CASE  or 

MARY  LURANCY  VENNUM, 


BY  E.  W.  STEVENS. 


WITH  COMMENTS  RY  JOSEPH  RODES  BUCHANAN,  M.D.,  PROFESSOR  OF  PHYSIOLOGY, 

ANTHROPOLOGY,  AND  PHYSIOLOGICAL  INSTITUTES  OF  MEDICINES  IN  THE 

ECLECTIC  MEDICAL  COLLEGE,  NEW  YORK;  D.  P.  KAYNER,  M. 

D. ;  S.  B.  BRITTAN,  M.  D.,  AND  HUDSON  TUTTLE. 


CHICAGO: 

REL1G10-PH1LOSOPHICAL    PUBLISHING    HOUSE. 
1878. 


ZFTJIBULISIHIIEIR/S     IsTOTE. 


••  Truth  wears  no  mask,  bows  at  no  human  elirine,  seeks  neither  place  nor  applause:  she  only  asks  a  hearing.1' 

To  members  of  the  various  learned  professions  we  especially  commend  this  narrative. 
We  believe  the  history  of  the  case  as  herein  told  to  be  strictly  true.  The  account  is 
given  in  a  modest,  unassuming  way,  with  no  attempt  to  exaggerate  or  enlarge;  it  could 
have  been  made  far  more  thrilling  and  yet  have  remained  within  the  bounds  of  truth. 
It  will  be  observed  there  is  no  chance  for  the  witnesses  to  have  been  honestly  mistaken 
and  to  have  thought  they  heard  and  saw  that  which  in  fact  they  did  not.  Either  the 
account  is  in  exact  accordance  with  the  facts  or  the  author  and  witnesses  have  willfully 
prevaricated.  The  evidence  which  we  publish  herewith  as  to  the  credibility  of  the Eoff 
family,  could  not  be  stronger;  and  the  reputation  of  E.  W.  Stevens  is  equally  good; 
the  publisher  has  known  him  for  years  and  has  implicit  confidence  in  his  veracity. 

The  case  of  Lurancy  Vennum  is  not  by  any  means  an  isolated  one,  and  there  are 
others  which  in  some  respects  are  even  more  remarkable.  Yet  on  account  of  its  recent 
occurrence  and  the  facilities  for  investigation,  we  believe  this  case  deserves  and  de- 
mands the  careful,  candid,  unbiased  consideration,  not  only  of  professional  men,  but  of 
all  who  are  interested,  either  as  advocates  of  a  future  existence  or  as  disbelievers  there- 
in. The  publisher  will  be  glad  to  receive  honest,  intelligent  criticisms,  which  may  be 
utilized  in  a  future  edition.  We  are  all  in  search  of  truth,  let  us  not  be  so  blinded  with 
prejudice  as  to  be  disgusted  with  its  wrappings  and  fail  to  find  the  fair  treasure  so 
snugly  ensconced  within. 

CHICAGO,  September,  1878. 


THE  RELIGIO-PHILOSOPHICAL  JOURNAL 

is  a  fearless  and  independent  newspaper,  entirely  free  from  all  sectarian  bias.  While 
the  JOURNAL  is  always  ready  to  take  the  affirmative  side  on  all  questions  involving  the 
phenomena  and  philosophy  of  Spiritualism,  yet  it  demands  the  most  stringent  accuracy 
of  observation  and  unhesitatingly  rejects  all  phenomena  which  cannot  bear  the  ordeal 
of  careful  scrutiny. 

All  Spiritualists,  and  those  who  are  investigating  the  subject  of  Spiritualism,  will  find 
this  paper  invaluable  as  an  assistant  in  their  researches. 

The  opponents  of  Spiritualism,  who  desire  to  be  familiar  with  its  progress  and  devel- 
opment, will  find  the  JOURNAL  a  fair,  candid  and  trustworthy  channel  of  information. 
We  respectfully  commend  the  paper  to  all  classes.  For  further  particulars  see  last  page 
of  cover. 


MARY   LURANCY   VENNUM. 


MARY  LURANCY  VENNUM. 


THE  WATSEKA  WONDER. 

A  Startling  and  Instructive  Chapter  in  the 
History  of  Spiritualism. 

BY  E.  W.  STEVENS. 

It  was  long  ago  and  wisely  said,  that  "God 
had  chosen  the  weak  things  of  the  world  to 
confound  the  wise,"  and  that  "  out  of  the 
mouths  of  babes  and  sucklings,  He  hath  per- 
fected praise." 

The  innocence  of  childhood  is  often  the 
sublimest  argument  in  the  establishment  of 
a  great  truth ;  and  the  unpresuming  sim- 
plicity of  youth  sometimes  may  become  the 
channel  of  phenomena  calculated  to  shake 
the  skepticism  and  prejudice  of  bigotry, 
and  to  humble  the  conceit  of  the  pompously 
wise. 

Such  has  been  a  fact  of  the  last  year,  at 
the  city  of  Watseka,  a  town  of  humble  pre- 
tensions, on  the  Eastern  Illinois,  and  Toledo, 
Peoria  and  Warsaw  Railroads,  eighty-six 
miles  South  of  Chicago.on  the  Iroquois  river. 
Watseka  is  noted  for  its  orthodox  senti- 
ments and  bitter  animosity  against  all  in- 
gress of  Spiritual  'ideas.  Its  ruling  classes 
are  aristocratic  and  respectable,  noted  for 
their  intelligence  and  literary  attainments. 
Its  society  organizations  are  earnest  in  re- 
formatory measures,  but  the  masses,  like 
the  population  in  all  low  and  malarial  dis- 
tricts, are  inert  in  the  investigation  of  ideas 
and  principles,  and  slow  in  the  discovery 
and  application  of  truths  hitherto  unknown 
to  them. 

This  town  has  been  swept  by  a  tidal  wave 
of  excitement,  on  account  of  the  presumed 
insanity  of  one  Lurancy  Vennum,  a  young 
girl  belonging  to  an  unpretentious  family  in 
the  suburbs  of  the  city.  Her  insanity,  as 
it  was  thought  to  be,  dates  from  July  llth, 
A.  D.,  1877,  and  the  remarkable  phenome- 
non continued  until  her  perfect  restoration 
through  the  aid  of  friendly  Spiritualists  and 
spirits,  on  the  21st  of  May,  1878. 

Thus,  for  ten  months  and  ten  days,  did 
these  phenomena  continue  to  excite  and  ag- 
itate the  people.  The  following  is  a  true 
narrative,  and  as  full  as  the  facts  collected 
from  the  parents  and  relatives  of  the  par- 


ties named  herein  and  observations  made 
by  the  writer,  will  warrant. 

Thomas  J.  Vennum  was  born  May  7th, 
1832,  in  Washington  Co.,  Penn.;  Lurinda  J. 
Smith  (his  wife),  was  born  October  14th, 
1837,  in  St.  Joseph  Co.,  Ind.  They  were  mar- 
ried in  Fayette  Co.,  Iowa,  Dec.  2d,  1855. 

MARY  LTJRANCY  VENNUM, 

daughter  of  the  above  named  Thomas  J. 
and  Lurinda  J.  Vennum,  was  born  on  the 
16th  day  of  April,  1864,  inMilford  township, 
seven  miles  south  of  Watseka.  The  family 
moved  to  Iowa,  July,  12th,  1864,  and  return- 
ed to  the  vicinity  eight  miles  from  Watseka, 
in  Oct.,  1865.  In  August,  1866,  they  removed 
to  Milford,  twelve  miles  south  of  Watseka, 
and  remained  there  till  March  1st,  1870,  then 
moved  out  two  and  one-half  miles  from  Mil- 
ford  until  April  1st,  1871,  when  they  moved 
into  Watseka,  locating  about  forty  rods 
from  the  residence  of  A.  B.  Roff,  the  spirit 
daughter  of  whom,  according  to  all  the  facts 
and  representations  every  way  tested,  is  the 
principal  character  in  this  remarkable  nar- 
rative. The  family  remained  at  this  place 
during  the  summer.  The  only  acquaintance 
ever  had  between  the  two  families  during 
the  season,  was  simply  one  brief  call  of  Mrs. 
Roff,  for  a  few  minutes,  on  Mrs.  Vennum, 
which  call  was  never  returned ;  and  a  form- 
al speaking  acquaintance  between  the  two 
gentlemen.  Since  1871,  the  Vennum  family 
have  lived  entirely  away  from  the  vicinity 
of  Mr.  Roff's,  and  never  nearer  than  now, 
on  extreme  opposite  limits  of  the  city. 

"Rancy,"  as  she  is  familiarly  called,  had 
never  been  sick,  save  a  light  run  of  measles 
in  1873.  A  few  days  before  the  following 
incidents  took  place,  she  said  to  her  family : 
"There  were  persons  ia  my  room  last  night, 
and  they  called  'Rancy  I  Rancy  I '  and  I  felt 
their  breath  on  my  face."  The  very  next 
night  she  arose  from  her  bed,  saying  that 
she  could  not  sleep,  that  every  time  she  tried 
to  sleep,  persons  came  and  called  "Rancy  I 
Rancy  I  "  to  her.  Her  mother  went  to  bed 
with  her,  after  which  she  rested  and  slept 
the  rest  of  the  night. 

On  the  llth  day  of  July,  1877,  Lurancy  had 
been  sewing  carpet  a  part  of  the  afternoon, 
when,  at  about  six  o'clock  she  laid  by  her 
work,  as  her  mother  said :  "Lurancy,  you 
had  better  commence  getting  supper."  The 


THE  RELIGIO-PHILOSOPHICAL  JOURNAL  TRACTS. 


girl  replied :  "Ma,  I  feel  bad;  I  feel  so  queer,'1 
and  placirg  her  hand  to  her  left  breast,  she 
immediately  went  into  what  seemed  like  a 
fit,  falling  heavily  on  the  floor,  lying  appar- 
ently dead,  every  muscle  becoming  sudden- 
lv  rigid.  Thus  she  lay  five  hours.  On  return- 
ing to  consciousness  she  said  she  felt  "very 
strange  and  queer."  The  remainder  of  the 
night  she  rested  well.  The  next  day  the 
rigid  state  returned,  and  passing  beyond  the 
rigidity,  her  mind  took  cognizance  of  two 
states  of  being  at  the  same  time.  Lying  as 
if  dead,  she  spoke  freely,  telling  the  family 
what  persons  and  spirits  she  could  see,  de- 
scribing them  and  calling  some  of  them  by 
name.  Among  those  mentioned  were  her 
sister  and  brother,  for  she  exclaimed,  "Oh, 
mother!  can't  you  see  little  Laura  and  Ber- 
tie? They  are  so  beautiful!"  etc., etc.  Ber- 
tie died  when  Lurancy  was  but  three  years 
old. 

She  had  many  of  these  trances,  describing 
Heaven  and  the  spirits,  or  the  angels  as  she 
called  them.  Sometime  in  September  she 
became  free  from  them  and  seemed  to  the 
family  to  be  quite  well  again. 

On  the  27th  day  of  November,  1877,  she 
was  attacked  with  a  most  violent  pain  in 
tier  stomach,  some  five  or  six  times  a  day ; 
for  two  weeks  she  had  the  most  excruciating 
pains.  In  these  painful  paroxysms,  she  would 
double  herself  back  until  her  head  and  feet 
actually  touched.  At  the  end  of  two  weeks, 
or  about  the  llth  of  December,  in  these 
distressed  attacks,  she  became  unconscious 
and  passed  into  a  quiet  trance,  and,  as  at 
former  times,  would  describe  Heaven  and 
.spirits,  often  calling  them  angels. 

From  this  time  on  until  the  1st  of  Febru- 
ary, 1878,  she  would  have  these  trances  and 
sometimes  a  seemingly  real  obsession,  from 
•three  to  eight  and  sometimes  as  many  as 
•twelve  times  a  day,  lasting  from  one  to 
•eight  hours,  occasionally  passing  into  that 
«tate  of  ecstasy,  when,  as  Lurancy,  she 
claimed  to  be  in  heaven. 

During  the  time  recorded,  up  to  about  the 
middle  of  January,  1878,  she  had  been  un- 
der the  care  of  Dr.  L.  N.  Pitwood  in  the 
summer  and  Dr.  Jewett  during  the  winter. 
These  M.  D.'s  are  both  eminent  allopathic 
practitioners,  and  residents  of  Watseka. 
Mrs.  Allison,  Mrs.  Jolly  and  other  relatives 


and  friends  believed  her  insane.  The  Eev. 
B.  M.  Baker,  the  Methodist  minister  in 
charge  at  Watseka,  wrote  to  the  insane 
asylum  to  ascertain  if  the  girl  could  be  re- 
ceived there.  It  seemed  to  be  the  general 
feeling  among  all  the  friends,  save  the  par- 
ents and  a  few  who  were  only  sympathetic 
observers  and  thinkers,  that  the  girl  should 
fro  to  the  asvlum. 

There  were  in  the  city  of  Watseka  at  this 
time,  persons  who  had  more  humanity  than 
bigotry;  persons  who  believe,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  Bishop  A.  Beals,  that  "  disease  has 
a  dynamic  or  spiritual  origin;"  persons 
claiming  to  understand  something  of  the  oc- 
cult forces  and  phenomena  of  mind,  and  the 
diseases  incident  to  a  false  conception  of , and 
opposition  to,  its  potencies;  persons  who  be- 
lieve, God  being  "  no  respecter  of  persons  " 
and  "without  variableness  or  shadow  of 
turning,"  that  power  exists  to-day,  as  in  the 
days  of  the  Nazarene,  to  cast  out  devils. 
Among  this  class  were  Asa  B.  Roff  and  his 
wife,  who,  with  others,  became  thoroughly 
aroused  to  the  importance  of  arresting  the 
movement,  to  take  a  lovely  child  from  the 
bosprn  of  an  affectionate  family,  to  impris- 
on her  among  maniacs,  to  be  ruled  and  cared 
for  by  ignorant  and  bigoted  strangers,  who 
know  less  of  catalepsy  than  a  blind  mater- 
ialist does  of  immortality.  These  good  peo- 
ple ventured  in  the  most  gentle  and  Chris- 
tian spirit,  to  counsel  with  the  parents  and 
advise  other  treatment,  different  from  any 
that  had  been  administered. 

These  earnest,  self-sacrificing  souls,  im- 
bued with  the  conviction  that  uncultivated 
spirits  had  something  to  do  with  the  case, 
plead  with  the  many  friends  of  the  child,  to 
withhold  her  from  the  asylum  until  it  could 
be  better  shown  whether  the  girl  was  really 
insane,  or  her  unfortunate  condition  might 
be  attributable  to  foreign  minds. 

Mr.  Roff,  after  much  persuasion,  obtained 
the  consent  of  the  girl's  father,  to  visit  her 
and  bring  with  him  Dr.  E.  W.  Stevens,  of 
Janesville  Wis.,  to  investigate  the  case.  Dr. 
Stevens,  who,  for  several  months,  at  fre- 
quent intervals,  had  been  in  the  city  and  a 
silent  listener  to  the  scoffs  and  scandals 
thrown  out  toward  the  Spiritualists  on  ac- 
count of  their  opinions  regarding  the  case, 
and  the  universal  foment  of  mind  in  the  city 


MARY  LURANCY  VENNUM. 


over  it,  was  formally  invited  by  Mr.  Ven- 
num,  through  Mr.  Roff,  to  visit  the  family. 

On  the  afternoon  of  January  31st,  1878, 
the  two  gentlemen  repaired  to  Mr.  Ven- 
num's  residence,  a  little  out  of  the  city.  Dr. 
S  tevens,  an  entire  stranger  to  the  family, 
was  introduced  by  Mr.  Roff  at  four  o'clock 
p.  M.  ;  no  other  persons  present  but  the  fam- 
ily. The  girl  sat  near  the  stove,  in  a  com- 
mon chair,  her  elbows  on  her  knees,  her 
hands  under  her  chin,  feet  curled  up  on  the 
chair,  eyes  staring,  looking  every  way  like 
an  "old  hag."  She  sat  for  a  time  in  silence, 
untij  Dr.  Stevens  moved  his  chair,  when 
she  savagely  warned  him  not  to  come  ne  r- 
er.  She  appeared  sullen  and  crabbed,  call- 
ing her  father  "Old  Black  Dick,  and  her 
mother  "Old  Granny."  She  refused  to  be 
touched,  even  to  shake  hands,  and  was 
reticent  and  sullen  with  all  save  the  doctor, 
with  whom  she  entered  freely  into  conver- 
sation, giving  her  reasons  for  doing  so ;  she 
said  he  was  a  Spiritual  doctor  and  would 
understand  her. 

When  he  asked  her  name  she  quickly  re- 
plied: 

"Katrina  Hogan." 

"How  old?" 

"Sixty-three  years." 

"Where  from?" 

"Germany." 

"How  long  ago  ?  " 

"Three  days." 

"How  did  you  come?  " 

"Through  the  air." 

"How  long  will  you  stay  f  " 

"Three  weeks." 

After  this  system  of  conversation  had 
proceeded  for  some  time,  she  modified  her 
manners  very  much,  appearing  to  be  a  little 
penitent  and  confidential.and  said  she  would 
be  honest  and  tell  the  doctor  her  real  name. 
She  was  not  a  woman;  and  her  real  name 
was  Willie.  On  being  asked  what  was  her 
father's  name,  replied, "  Peter  Canning,  and 
her  own  name  was  Willie  Canning,  a  young 
man;  ran  away  from  home,  got  intodifficul 
ty,  changed  his  name  several  times  and  fin- 
ally lost  his  life  and  was  now  here  because 
he  wanted  to  be,"  etc.  She  wearied  with 
answering  questions  and  giving  details. 
Then  she  turned  unpn  the  doctor  with  a 
perfect  shower  of  questions,  such  as,  "What 


is  your  name  ?  Were  do  you  live  ?  Are  you 
married?  How  many  children?  How  many 
boys  ?  How  many  girls  ?  What  is  your  oc- 
cupation ?  What  kind  of  a  doctor  ?  What  did 
you  come  to  Watseka  for  ?  Have  you  ever 
been  at  the  South  Pole  ?  North  Pole  ?  Europe  ? 
Australia?  Egypt?  Ceylon?  Benares ? Sand- 
wich Islands  ?  "  and  by  along  series  of  ques- 
tions evinced  a  knowledge  of  geography.  She 
next  inquired  after  the  doctor's  habits  and 
morals  by  questions  like  the  folio  wing:  "Do 
you  lie  ?  get  drunk  ?  steal  ?  swear  ?  use  tobac- 
co? tea?  coffee?  Do  you  go  to  church? 
pray  ? "  etc.,  etc.  She  then  asked  to  have 
the  same  questions  put  Mr.  Roff.  She  de- 
clined to  ask  them  direct,  herself,  but 
through  the  doctor.  They  must  also  be  re- 
peated through  him  to  Mr.  Vennum,  making: 
the  while,  some  very  unpleasant  retorts. 

When,  at  about  half-past  five  o'clock,?.  M.,. 
the  visitors  arose  to  depart,  she  also  arose, 
flung  up  her  hands  and  fell  upon  the1  floor, 
straight,  stiff  and  rigid,  as  I  have  often  seen> 
sensitives  fall  with  the  "  power"  in  Metho- 
dist revival  meetings,  and  believing  it  to  be 
of  the  same  nature,  the  doctor  took  occasion 
to  prove  it,  as  he  has  done  on  those  smitten- 
with  the  "power,"  by  controlling  body  and 
mind  and  restoring  them  to  a  normal  and 
rational  state,  despite  the  "  power." 

The  visitors  being  again  seated,  he  took 
her  hands  as  they  were  held  straight  up- 
wards, like  iron  bars,  and  by  magnetic  ac- 
tion soon  had  the  body  under  perfect  con- 
trol, and  through  the  laws  of  Spiritual  sci- 
ence, was  soon  in  full  and  free  communica- 
tion with  the  sane  and  happy  mind  of  Lu- 
rancy  Vennum  herself,  who  conversed  with, 
the  grace  and  sweetness  of  an  angel,  declar- 
ing herself  to  be  in  heaven. 

In  this  condition  she  answered  the  doctor's 
questions  with  reference  to  herself , her  seem- 
ingly insane  condition  and  the  influences- 
that  controlled  her,  with  great  rationality 
and  understanding.  She  regretted  to  have 
such  evil  controls  about  her.  She  said  she 
knew  the  evil  spirit  calling  itself  Katrina 
and  Willie  and  others.  The  doctor  contin- 
ued to  suggest  to  her  mind,  things  to  pre- 
pare the  way  for  a  change  of  influences,  by 
enlightening  and  instructing  her  no  w  while 
her  mind  was  clear  and  in  this  superior  con- 
dition, and  then  asked  her,  if  she  must  be 


THE  RELIGIO-PHILOSOPHICAL  JOURNAL  TRACTS. 


controlled,  if  it  would  not  be  better,  if  it 
were  possible,  to  have  a  higher,  purer,  hap- 
pier, and  more  intelligent  or  rational  con- 
trol. She  said  she  would  rather,  if  it  could 
be  so.  Then  on  being  advised,  she  looked 
about  and  inquired  of  those  she  saw,  and 
described,  and  named,  to  find  some  one  who 
would  prevent  the  cruel  and  insane  ones 
from  returning  to  annoy  her  and  the  fami- 
ly. She  soon  said:  "There  are  a  great  many 
spirits  here  who  would  be  glad  to  come,"  and 
she  again  proceeded  to  give  names  and  de- 
scriptions of  persons  long  since  deceased ; 
some  that  she  had  never  known,  but  were 
known  by  older  persons  present.  But,  she 
said,  there  is  one  the  angels  desire  should 
come,  and  she  wants  to  come.  On  being 
asked  if  she  knew  who  it  was,  she  said: 
"Her  name  is  Mary  Roff.''  Mr.  Kofi  being 
present,  said:  "That  is  my  daughter ;  Mary 
Roff  is  my  girl.  Why,  she  has  been  in  heaven 
twelve  years.  Yes,  let  her  come,  we'll  be 
glad  to  have  her  come."  Mr.  Kofi  assured 
Lurancy  that  Mary  was  good  and  intelligent 
and  would  help  her  all  she  could;  stating 
further  that  Mary  used  to  be  subject  to  con- 
ditions like  herself.  Lurancy,  after  due  de- 
liberation and  counsel  with  spirits,  said  that 
Mary  would  take  the  place  of  the  former 
wild  and  unreasonable  influence.  Mr.  Roff 
said  to  her:  "Have  your  mother  bring  you 
to  my  house  and  Mary  will  be  likely  to  come 
along,  and  a  mutual  benefit  may  be  derived 
from  our  former  experience  with  Mary." 
Thus  reaching  the  sane  mind  of  the  girl  and 
through  her,  the  sane  minds  of  a  better 
class  of  spirits,  a  contract  or  agreement  was 
made,  to  be  kept  sacred  by  the  angels  in 
Heaven  and  Heaven's  agents  in  the  flesh,  by 
which  a  mortal  body  was  to  be  restored  to 
health ;  a  spirit,  unfortunate  in  earth  life, 
with  twelve  years'  experience  in  spirit  life, 
to  have  an  amended  earthly  experience,  a 
child  to  be  spiritualized  and  moulded  into 
a  fine  medium,  an  unbelieving  and  scof- 
fing city  to  be  confounded,  and  the  greatest 
truth  the  world  has  ever  sought,  establish- 
ed beyond  doubt  or  cavil.  How  far  the  con- 
tract has  been  kept  by  the  spirits  and  their 
faithful  co-laborers  here,  the  sequel  will 
show. 

The  object  of  the  visit  now  being  attain- 
ed. Dr.  Stevens  asked : 


"  How  long  do  you  want  to  stay  in  this 
heaven  ?  " 

She  answered. 

"Always  sir." 

"But  you  will  come  DacK  for  the  sake  of 
your  friends  ?  " 

"Yes,  sir." 

"When  will  you  come  back  ?  " 

"At  twelve  o'clock." 

"But  the  family  will  want  rest.  Can't  you 
come  sooner  ?  " 

"Yes,  sir,  I  can." 

"How  soon  can  you  come?  " 

"At  nine  o'clock,  sir." 

"Will  you  come  at  nine  V  " 

"I  will." 

And  so  she  did. 

After  nearly  three  hours  of  careful  in- 
vestigation, conversation,  and  the  applica- 
tion of  the  laws  of  Spiritual  science  and  har- 
mony, Mr.  Roff  and  the  doctor  retired,  leav- 
ing the  family  satisfied  that  a  new  fountain 
of  light  and  source  of  help  had  been  reached. 
A  new  beam  of  truth  reached  and  touched 
the  hearts  of  the  sorrowing  family,— and 
to  use  the  language  of  Mary  Roff,  "Dr.  Stev- 
ens opened  the  gate  for  her,"  and  for  the 
inflowing  of  light  where  before  was  dark- 
ness. 

On  the  following  morning,Friday,  Feb.  1st, 
Mr.  Vennum  called  at  the  office  of  Mr.  Roff 
and  informed  him  that  the  girl  claimed  to 
be  Mary  Roff  and  wanted  to  go  home.  To 
use  Mr.  Vennum's  words :  "She  seems  like 
a  child  real  home-sick,  wanting  to  see  her 
pa  and  ma  and  her  brothers." 

It  now  becomes  necessary  in  the  relation 
of  this  narrative  to  give  a  brief  sketch  of 
the  life  of 

MARY  ROFF. 

The  daughter  of  Asa  B.  and  Ann  Roff, 
was  born  on  the  8th  day  of  October,  1846,  in 
Warren  Co.,  Ind.  The  family  moved  in  Nov. 
of  the  same  year  to  Williamsport,  Ind., 
thence  in  September,  1847,  to  Middleport, 
111.,  where  they  resided  till  June,  1857,  when 
they  removed  to  Victoria,  Texas,  in  search 
of  relief  for  a  sick  child.  In  March,  1858, 
they  returned  to  Gilman  and  remained  there 
and  at  Onarga,  111.,  till  the  building  of  the 
Toledo,  Peoria  and  Warsaw  Railroad,  when 
they  returned  to  Middleport,  Nov .  Sth,  1859 
and  built  the  first  house  in  the  new  town  of 


MARY  LURANCY  VENNUM. 


South  Middleport,  which  is  now  a  part  of 
the  city  of  Watseka,  where  they  still  re- 
side. 

In  the  spring  of  1847,  when  about  six  months 
old,  Mary  was  taken  sick  and  had  a  fit,  in 
which  she  remained  several  hours.  After  the 
fit,she  became  conscious  and  lay  several  days 
without  the  family  having  much  hope  of 
her  recovery.  In  two  or  three  weeks  she 
seemed  to  have  entirely  recovered.  A  few 
weeks  later  she  acted,  on  one  occasion,  like 
a  child  going  into  a  fit.  The  pupils  of  her 
eyes  dilated,  the  muscles  slightly  twitched 
but  lasted  but  a  few  moments.  From  the 
age  of  about  six  months,  she  had  these  spells 
as  described,  once  in  from  three  to  five 
weeks  apart,  all  the  time  increasing  in 
force  and  violence,  until  her  tenth  year, 
when  they  proved  to  be  real  fits,  having 
from  one  to  three  and  sometimes  four  or 
five  of  them  within  a  period  of  three  or  four 
days,  when  they  would  cease,  and  she  would 
enjoy  good  health  until  the  next  period  ap- 
proached. At  these  times,  she  for  few  days 
would  seem  sad  and  despondent,  in  which 
mood  she  would  sing  and  play  the  most 
solemn  music,  (for  with  all  the  rest  of  her 
studies,  in  which  she  was  considered  well 
advanced,  she  had  learned  music,)  and  al- 
most always  would  sing  that  beautiful  song, 
"We  Are  Coming  Sister  Mary,"  which  was 
a  favorite  song  with  her. 

When  she  was  fifteen  years  old,  and  the 
violence  of  the  fits  had  increased,  the  pa- 
rents say  they  could  see  her  mind  was  af- 
fected during  the  melancholy  periods  prior 
to  the  fits.  Dr.  Jesse  Bennett,  now  residing 
at  Sparta,  Wis.,  and  Dr.  Franklin  Blades, 
DOW  Judge  of  the  Eleventh  Judicial  Circuit 
of  Illinois,  and  resident  of  Watseka,  were 
employed  to  attend  her.  Dr.N.  S.  Davis,  of 
Chicago,  Illinois,  and  several  other  promi- 
nent physicians,  had  examined  her.  They 
kept  her  in  the  water  cure  at  Peoria,  Illi- 
nois, under  the  care  of  Dr.  Nevins,  for  eight- 
een months,  but  all  to  no  purpose. 

In  the  summer  of  1864  she  seemed  to  have 
almost  a  mania  for  bleeding  herself  for  the 
relief,  as  she  said,  "of  the  lump  of  pain  in 
the  head."  Drs.  Fowler,  Secrest  and  Pit- 
wood  were  called  and  applied  leeches.  She 
would  apply  them  herself  to  her  temples, 


and  liked  them,  treating  them  like  little 
pets,  until  she  seemed  sound  and  well. 

On  Saturday  morning,  July  16th,  1864,  in 
one  of  her  desponding  moods,  she  secretly 
took  a  knife  with  her  to  the  back  yard,  and 
cut  her  arm  terribly,  until  bleeding  excess- 
ively, she  fainted.  This  occurred  about  nine 
o'clock  A.  M.  She  remained  unconscious 
till  two  o'clock  P.  M.,  when  she  became  a 
raving  maniac  of  the  most  violent  kind,  in 
which  condition  she  remained  five  days  and 
nights,  requiring  almost  constantly  the  ser- 
vices of  five  of  the  most  able  bodied  men 
to  hold  her  on  the  bed,  although  her  weight 
was  only  about  one  hundred  pounds,  and  she 
had  lost  nearly  all  her  blood.  When  she  ceas- 
ed raving,  she  looked  and  acted  quite  nat- 
ural and  well,  and  could  do  everything  she 
desired  as  readily  and  properly  as  at  any 
time  in  her  life.  Yet  she  seemed  to  know  no 
one,  and  could  not  recognize  the  presence 
of  persons  at  all,  although  the'  house  was 
nearly  filled  with  people  night  and  day. 
She  had  no  sense  whatever  of  sight,  feel- 
ing or  hearing  in  a  natural  way,  as  was 
proved  by  every  test  that  could  be  applied. 
She  could  read  blind-folded,  and  do  every- 
thing as  readily  as  when  in  health  by  her 
natural  sight.  She  would  dress,  stand  be- 
before  the  glass,  open  and  search  drawers, 
pick  up  loose  pins,  or  do  any  and  all  things 
readily,  and  without  annoyance  under  heavy 
blindfoldings. 

Near  the  time,  in  1864,  when  she  cut  her 
arm  while  blindfolded,  she  took  Dr.  Trail's 
encyclopedia,  turned  to  the  index,  traced 
the  column  till  she  came  to  the  word 
"blood,"  then  turned  to  the  page  indicated 
and  read  the  subject  through.  On  another 
occasion  she  took  a  box  of  her  letters  re- 
ceived from  her  friends,  and  sat  down, 
heavily  blindfolded  by  critical,  intelligent, 
investigating  gentlemen,  examined  and  read 
them  without  error  or  hesitancy.  When 
Rev.  J.  H.  Ehea,  Editor  A.  J.  Smith,  Mr. 
Koff  and  others  misplaced  and  promiscu- 
ously arranged  some  of  their  own  letters 
with  Mary  s,  she  at  once  proceeded  to  cor- 
rectly draw  out  the  intruded  letters  and  ex- 
amine them.  If  wrong  side  up,  she  would 
quickly  turn  them,  and  read  aloud  the  ad- 
dress thereon,  and  throw  violently  away 
every  letter  not  her  own;  and  re-arranged 


THE  RELIGIO-PHILOSOPHICAL  JOLRNAL  TRACTS. 


twenty  or  thirty  letters  in  the  order  she  de- 
sired to  have  them.  Rev.J.  H.  Rhea  was  the 
Methodist  minister  in  charge  at  that  time ; 
A.  G.  Smith  was  editor  of  the  Iroquois 
county  Republican,  now  editor  of  the  Dan- 
ville (111.)  Times.  She  was  also  investigated 
by  all  the  prominent  citizens  of  Watseka  at 
that  time. 

With  the  physicians  her  peculiar  state  or 
condition  was  called  catalepsy.  With  the 
clergy  it  was  one  of  the  mysteries  of  God's 
providence,  with  which  we  should  have  lit- 
tle to  do.  With  editors,  who  are  obliged  to 
be  wise  or  silent,  it  was  fits  or  some  unac- 
countable phenomenon.  All,  with  untiring 
effort,  tried  to  solve  the  mystery,  and  learn 
what  it  was  that  produced  such  strange 
and  wonderful  manifestations.  The  editor 
of  the  Danville  Times,  in  a  recent  issue 
writes : 

"Now  as  to  Mary  Roff,  it  was  our  fortune 
to  know  the  sweet  girl,  who  was  herself  a 
cataleptic,  and  who  died  twelve  years  ago. 
Disease  dethroned  her  reason  and  maddened 
her  brain  until  she  sought  her  own  and  oth- 
ers' lives,  and  the  modest  young  lady  was 
transformed  into  a  screaming  maniac.  She 
had  periods  of  exemption  from  raving,  and 
thus  her  aberrant  mind  conceived  fancies 
of  the  queerest  hue,  creating  the  most  im- 
possible beings  for  associates,  and  convers- 
ing with  them,  she  maintained  her  own  side 
of  the  conversation  in  a  usual  tone  of  voice, 
while  imagination  supplied  her  created  asso- 
ciates with  language  and  intelligence.  When 
in  this  condition,  her  father  and  mother  as- 
serted the  discovery  that  Mary  could  read  a 
book  with  its  lids  closed,  and  they  desired  i 
us  to  test  the  correctness  of  what  they 
claimed.  We  therefore  took  from  our  side 
pocket  a  letter  inclosed  in  an  envelope,  and 
holding  it  before  her  bandaged  eyes,  said  to 
her,  'Mary,  read  the  signature  to  that  letter.' 
Immediately  the  proper  name  was  pro- 
nounced." 

After  remaining  in  the  clairvoyant  state 
above  related  for  three  or  four  days,  she 
came  again  to  her  normal  condition  and  in 
good  health  as  she  usually  was,  except  the 
fits.  From  this  time  she  continued  as  she 
had  been  prior  to  cutting  her  arm.  Her  fits 
increased,  and  her  parents  were  advised  to 
place  her  in  the  insane  asylum. 

On  July  5th,  1865,  while  her  parents  were 
at  Peoria.  111.,  on  a  three  days'  visit,  she  ate 
a  hearty  breakfast,  and  soon  thereafter  lay 
down  on  her  bed,  and  in  her  usual  health 
went  to  sleep.  In  a  few  minutes  she  was 


heard  to  scream,  as  was  usual  on  taking  a 
a  fit.  On  approaching  her  bedside,  they 
found  her  in  a  fit,  and  in  a  few  moments  she 
expired. 

We  now  return  and  take  up  the  original 
narrative  where  we  left  it,  dating  Feb.  1st, 
1878,  when  it  was  first  seen  that  Mary  Roff 
had  control  of  Lurancy's  body,  and  teasing 
to  go  home.  Could  it  be  possible  the  gulf  of 
death  had  been  bridged  I  the  gates  of  heav- 
en left  open  ?  Had  Mary,  like  Moses  and 
Elias,  returned  to  a  transfiguration  ?  Or, 
like  the  spirit  of  "one  of  the  prophets,"  had 
she  come  with  revelation  to  the  grotto  of 
darkness  in  this  benighted  Patmos  ?  Were 
the  unnumbered  facts  of  scriptural  ages  re- 
peating themselves  now  ?  Can  we  say  with 
Job,  "A  spirit  passed  before  my  face?''  Eze- 
kiel  and  Isaiah  talked  with  the  departed, 
Saul  conversed  with  Samuel,  Paul  and  the 
shepherds  with  spirits  in  the  air,  and  can 
we  talk  with  Mary  ?  And  the  friends  of  the 
family  went  up  to  see,  aad  answered,  "Yes !" 

From  the  wild,  angry,  ungovernable  girl, 
to  be  kept  only  by  lock  and  key,  or  the  more 
distressing  watch  care  of  almost  frantic  pa- 
rents; or  the  rigid,  corpse-like  cataleptic,  as 
believed,  the  girl  has  now  become  mild, 
docile,  polite  and  timid,  knowing  none  of 
the  family,  but  constantly  pleading  to  go 
home.  The  best  wisdom  of  the  family  was 
used  to  convince  her  that  she  was  at  home, 
and  must  remain.  Weeping,  she  would  not 
be  pacified,  and  only  found  contentment  in 
going  back  to  heaven,  as  she  said,  for  short 
visits. 

About  a  week  after  she  took  control  of 
the  body,  Mrs1.  A.  B.  Roff  and  her  daugh- 
ter, Mrs.  Minerva  Alter,  Mary's  sister,  hear- 
ing of  the  remarkable  change,  went  to  see 
the  girl.  As  they  came  in  sight,  far  down 
the  street)  Mary,  looking  out  the  window, 
exclaimed  exultingly,  "There  comes  my  ma 
and  sister  Nervie!"  the  name  by  which  Ma- 
ry used  to  call  Mrs.  Alter  in  girlhood.  As 
they  came  into  the  house,  she  caught  them 
around  their  necks,  wept  and  cried  for  joy, 
and  seemed  so  hagpy  to  meet  them.  From 
this  time  dn  she  seemed  more  homesick 
than  before.  At  times  she  seemed  almost 
frantic  to  go  hcwie.  Finally  some  friends  of 
the  faffilly  insisted  on  their  sending  her  to 
Mr.  Roffs,  which  they  reluctantly  consented 


MARY  LURANCY  VENNUM. 


to  do;  reluctantly  because  the  girl  was  so 
much  trouble  and  care  as  she  had  been  al 
winter;  so  much  so  that  Mrs.  Vennum  was 
nearly  prostrated,  and  could  not  have  sur 
vived  the  care  and  anxiety  many  months 
longer,  under  the  same  state  of  affairs,  anc 
they  felt  that  it  would  be  an  imposition  to 
send  the  girl  to  be  cared  for  by  strangers 
and  especially  so  by  Mrs.  Roff,  as  she  was 
not  able  to  take  charge  of  and  care  for  a 
girl  that  made  so  much  trouble  as  this  one 
had  for  Mrs.  Vennum. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Roff,  with  their  hearts  ever 
full  of  the  milk  of  human  kindness,  more 
ready  to  forgive  than  to  censure,  and  brav- 
ing the  sneers  and  taunting  innuendoes  of 
an  uneducated  bigotry,  with  no  other  mo- 
tive but  one  of  mercy  and  kindness,  opened 
their  doors  and  hearts  to  receive  the  unfor- 
tunate girl  with  her  new  control,  having 
no  hope  or  desire  for  reward  but  in  the 
sense  of  a  just  sympathy  for  right  and  truth. 
They  remembered  the  precept,  "Forget  not 
to  entertain  strangers,  for  thereby  some 
have  entertained  angels." 

On  the  llth  day  of  February,  1878,  they 
sent  the  girl  to  Mr.  Roff's,  where  she  met 
her  "pa  and  ma,"  and  each  member  of  the 
family,  with  the  most  gratifying  express- 
ions of  love  and  affection,  by  words  and  em- 
braces. On  being  asked  how  long  she  would 
stay,  she  said,  "The  angels  will  let  me  stay 
till  some  time  in  May ;"  and  she  made  it  her 
home  there  till  May  21st,  three  months  and 
ten  days,  a  happy,  contented  daughter  and 
sister  in  a  borrowed  body. 

After  the  girl  was  at  Mr.  Roff's,  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Baker  said  to  Mr.  Vennum,  "I  think 
you  will  see  the  time  when  you  will  wish 
you  had  sent  her  to  the  asylum."  Mrs.  Jolly 
said  if  she  ever  came  home  she  would  be 
more  trouble  than  ever.  Another  relative, 
more  religious  than  humane,  said,  "I  would 
sooner  follow  a  girl  of  mine  to  the  grave 
than  have  her  go  to  Roff's  and  be  made  a 
Spiritualist."  Dr.  Jewett  called  it  catalepsy 
No.  2,  which  is  as  definite  and  convenient 
in  explanation  of  this  case  as  is  "humbug" 
in  explanation  of  any  newly  discovered  sci- 
entific truth  unacceptable  to  popular  ignor- 
ance. He  said :  "Humor  her  whims  and  she 
will  get  well."  Some  prudent,  two-faced 
people  would  say,  with  a  noncommittal  air, 


"What  strange  freaks!"  Others,  with  an 
exalted  opinion  of  their  wonderful  percep- 
tions, would  say,  "It  is  all  put  on,"  etc.,  etc. 
Yet  none  of  the  persons  expressing  such 
opinions  have  ever  called  to  see  the  girl,  or 
derived  any  information  from  those  in 
charge  of  her. 

The  girl  now  in  her  new  home,  seemed 
perfectly  happy  and  content,  knowing  every 
person  and  everything  that  Mary  knew 
when  in  her  original  body,  twelve  to  twen- 
ty-five years  ago,  recognizing  and  calling  by 
name  those  who  were  friends  and  neighbors 
of  the  family  from  1852  to  1865,  when  Mary 
died,  calling  attention  to  scores,  yes  hun- 
dreds, of  incidents  that  transpired  during 
her  natural  life.  During  all  the  period  of 
her  sojourn  at  Mr.  Roff's  she  had  no  knowl- 
edge of,  and  did  not  recognize  any  of  Mr. 
Vennum's  family,  their  friends  or  neigh- 
bors, yet  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Vennum  and  their 
children  visited  her  and  Mr.  Roff's  people, 
she  being  introduced  to  them  as  to  any 
strangers.  After  frequent  visits,  and  hear- 
ing  them  often  and  favorably  spoken  of, 
she  learned  to  love  them  as  acquaintances, 
and  visited  them  with  Mrs.  Roff  three  times. 
From  day  to  day  she  appeared  natural,  easy, 
affable  and  industrious,  attending  diligent- 
ly and  faithfully  to  her  household  duties,  as- 
sisting in  the  general  work  of  the  family  as 
a  faithful,  prudent  daughter  might  be  sup- 
posed to  do,  singing,  reading  or  conversing 
as  opportunity  offered,  upon  all  matters  of 
private  or  general  interest  to  the  family. 

Three  days  after  she  came  to  Mr.  Roff's, 
while  looking  at  him  and  seeming  to  have 
been  in  a  sort  of  retrospective  revery,  she 
asked,  "Pa,  who  was  it  that  used  to  say  'con- 
found it?'"  and  laughing  very  heartily 
when  she  saw  that  he  understood  it  to  be 
limself,  that  being  a  common  expression  of 
his  in  the  time  of  her  girlhood,  twelve  to 
,wenty  years  ago. 

One  day  she  met  an  old  friend  and  neigh- 
>or  of  Mr.  Roff's,  who  was  a  widow  when 

Mary  was  a  girl  at  home.  Some  years  since 
,he  lady  married  a  Mr.  Wagoner  with  whom 
he  yet  lives.  But  when  she  met  Mrs.  Wag- 
>ner  she  clasped  her  around  the  neck,  and 
aid,  "0  Mary  Lord,  you  look  so  very  natural, 

and  have  changed  the  least  of  any  one  I  have 
een  since  I  came  back."  Mrs.  Lord  was  in 


THE  RELIGIO-PHILOSOPH1CAL  JOURNAL  TRACTS. 


some  way  related  to  the  Vennum  family, 
and  lived  close  by  them,  but  Mary  could 
only  call  her  by  the  name  by  which  she 
knew  her  fifteen  years  ago,  and  could  not 
seem  to  realize  that  she  was  married.  Mrs. 
Lord  lived  just  across  the  street  from  Mr. 
Eoff s  for  several  years,  prior  and  up  to 
within  a  few  months  of  Mary's  death ;  both 
being  members  of  the  same  Methodist 
church,  they  were  very  intimate. 

Some  days  after  Mary  was  settled  in  her 
new  home,  Mrs.  Parker,  who  lived  neigh- 
bor to  the  Boff' s  in  Middleport  in  1852,  and 
next  door  to  them  in  Watseka  in  1860,  came 
in  with  her  daughter-in-law,  Nellie  Parker. 
Mary  immediately  recognized  both  of  the 
ladies,  calling  Mrs.  Parker  "Auntie  Park- 
er," and  the  other  "Nellie,"  as  in  the  ac- 
quaintance of  eighteen  years  ago.  In  con- 
versation with  Mrs.  Parker,  Mary  asked, 
"Do  you  remember  how  Nervie  and  I  used 
to  come  to  your  house  and  sing?"  Mrs. 
Parker  says  that  was  the  first  allusion  made 
to  that  matter,  nothing  having  been  said  by 
any  one  on  that  subject,  and  says  that  Mary 
and  Minerva  used  to  come  to  their  house 
and  sit  and  sing,  "Mary  had  a  little  lamb," 
etc.  Mrs.  Dr.  Alter  (Minerva)  says  she  re- 
members it  welL  This  was  when  Mr  Eoff 
kept  the  postoflice,  and  could  not  have  been 
later  than  1852,  and  twelve  years  before  Lu- 
rancy  was  born. 

One  evening  in  the  latter  part  of  March, 
Mr.  Eoff  was  sitting  in  the  room  waiting 
for  tea,  and  reading  the  paper,  Mary  being 
out  in  the  yard.  He  asked  Mrs.  Eoff  if  she 
could  find  a  certain  velvet  head-dress  that 
Mary  used  to  wear  the  last  year  before  she 
died.  If  so,  to  lay  it  on  the  stand  and  say 
nothing  about  it,  to  see  if  Mary  would  recog- 
nize it.  Mrs.  Eoff  readily  found  and  laid  it 
on  the  stand.  The  girl  soon  came  in,  and  im- 
mediately exclaimed  as  she  approached  the 
stand :  "O,  there  is  my  head-dress  I  wore 
when  my  hair  was  short !"  She  then  asked, 
"Ma,  where  is  my  box  of  letters  ?  Have  you 
got  them  yet?"  Mrs.  Eoff  replied,  "Yes,  Ma- 
ry, I  have  some  of  them."  She  at  once 
got  the  box  with  many  letters  in  it.  As  Ma- 
ry began  to  examine  them  she  said,  O,  "Ma, 
here  is  a  collar  I  tatted!  Ma,  why,  did  you 
not  show  to  me  my  letters  and  things  be- 
fore?" The  collar  had  been  preserved  | 


among  the  relics  of  the  lamented  child  as 
one  of  the  beautiful  things  her  fingers  had 
wrought  before  Lurancy  was  born ;  and  so 
Mary  continually  recognized  every  little 
thing  and  remembered  every  little  incident 
of  her  girlhood. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  family 
moved  to  Texas  in  1857.  Mr.  Eoff  asked 
Mary  if  she  remembered  moving  to  Texas 
or  anything  about  it.  "Yes,  pa,  and  I  re- 
member crossing  Eed  river  and  of  seeing  a 
great  many  Indians,  and  I  remember  Mrs. 
Eeeder's  girls,  who  were  in  our  company,' 
and  other  incidents  and  facts.  And  thus 
she  from  time  to  time  made  first  mention  of 
things  that  transpired  thirteen  to  twenty- 
five  years  ago. 

On  the  19th  of  February  Mr.  Eoff  address- 
ed the  writer  as  follows : 

"You  know  how  we  took  the  poor,  dear 
girl  Lurancy  (Mary).  Some  appreciate  our 
motives,  but  the  many,  without  investiga- 
tion and  without  a  knowledge  of  the  facts, 
cry  out  against  us  and  against  that  angel 
girl.  Some  say  she  pretends;  others  that 
she  is  crazy;  and  we  hear  that  some  say  it 
is  the  devil.  *  *  *  Mary  is  perfectly 
happy ;  she  recognizes  everybody  and  every- 
thing that  she  knew  when  in  her  body 
twelve  or  more  years  ago.  She  knows  no- 
body nor  anything  whatever  that  is  known 
by  Lurancv.  *  *  *  Mr.  Vennum  has 
been  to  see  her,  and  also  her  brother  Henry, 
at  different  times,  but  she  don't  know  any- 
thing about  them.  Mrs.  Vennum  is  still  un- 
able to  come  and  see  her  daughter.  She  has 
been  nothing  but  Mary  since  she  has  been 
here,  and  knows  nothing  but  what  Mary 
knew.  She  has  entered  the  trance  once  ev- 
ery other  day  for  some  days.  She  is  per- 
fectly happy.  *  *  *  You  don't  know 
how  much  comfort  we  take  with  the  dear 
angel." 

The  child  has  often  said  she  likes  Dr 
Stevens  next  to  her  pa,  because  he  opened 
the  gate  for  her  to  come  in,  and  because  he 
has  done  so  much  for  her  pa  and  ma,  and 
her  brothers,  and  for  Lurancy 's  body,  and 
feeling  that  gratitude,  she  wrote  him  by 
permission  of  the  parents,  on  the  20th  of 
February,  in  which  she  said: 

'I  am  yet  here.    *    *    Frank  is  better.   * 

Nervie  is  here  for  dinner ;  Allie  Alter  is 
going  to  stay  all  night;  Mrs.  Marsh  was 
here  to-day  and  read  a  beautiful  letter  to 
us.  I  wish  you  could  spend  the  evening  with 
us.  *  *  I  would  like  to  have  your  picture 
to  look  at.  *  *  Please  write  to  pa  when 
you  get  time.  *  *  We  all  send  our  love 


MARY  LURANCY  VENNUM. 


to  you.  *  *  I  like  it  here  very  much,  and 
am  going  to  stay  all  the  time.  *  *  *  I 
went  to  heaven  and  staid  about  an  hour. 

*  It  seerns  a  long  time  since  I  saw  you. 

*  Forget  me  not.    Good  night. 

MARY  EOFF. 

She  wrote  the  doctor  again  on  February 
31st,  of  which  the  following  is  an  extract: 

"I  have  just  finished  a  letter  to  brother 
Frank.  He  went  back  to  his  store  feeling 
quite  well.  The  boys  have  gone  put  to  play 
for  a  dance.  *  *  *  In  the  evening  I  went 
to  heaven,  and  I  saw  some  of  the  beautiful 
things,  and  talked  with  the  angels,  *  *  * 
and  be  sure  1  don't  forget  when  I  go  to 
heaven  and  come  back.  *  *  *  Fear  the 
Lord  and  depart  from  evil' — Prov.  3d :  7th. 

MARY  ROFF. 

It  may  here  be  said  that  it  was  fre- 
quently the  case  that  when  Mary  went  to 
heaven,  as  she  called  it,  other  spirits  some- 
times, by  permission,  would  come  and  pre- 
sent themselves,  and  speak  freely  their  own 
language  and  sentiments.  Mr.  Koff  writes 
under  date  of  March,  as  follows,  of  a  com- 
munication through  another  young  lady  at 
his  house.  The  medium's  name  I  reserve 
because  I  have  no  license  to  use  it : 

"A  lady  came  throtigh at  our  house, 

who  claimed  to  have  lived  and  died  in  Ten- 
nessee, and  says  she  was  afflicted  from  eight 
years  of  age  till  twenty-five,  when  she  died 
with  a  similar  disease,  and  in  a  similar  way 
that  Mary- died.  She  says  that  Mary  has 
control  or  Lurancy  Vennum,  and  will  re- 
tain control  till  she  is  restored  to  her  nor- 
mal condition,  when  Mary  will  leave.  Mary 
Is  happy  as  a  lark,  and  gives  daily,  almost 
hourly,  proofs  of  being  Mary's  intelligence. 
She  don't  recognize  Lurancy's  family  or 
friends  at  all.  She  knows  and  recognizes 
everything  that  our  Mary  used  to  know, 
and  nothing  whatever  of  what  the  Vennum 
girl  knows.  She  now  enters  the  trance  with- 
out any  rigidity  of  the  muscles  whatever, 
very  gently,  and  at  her  own  will,  describes 
heavenly  scenes,  etc.,  etc.  \Ve  think  all 
will  be  well,  and  Lurancy  restored  to  her 
orthodox  friends  yet.  *  *  Some  of  the 
relatives  are  yielding  by  Mary's  calling 
their  attention  to  things  of  thirteen  years 
ago,  that  transpired  between  her  and  tnem. 
It  wakes  them  up.  *  *  It  is  wonderful. 

*  *    It  wpuld  take  a  volume  to  give  the 
important  items  that  have  occurred." 

Mrs.  Dr.  Alter,  under  date  of  April  16th, 
1S78,  writes  of  Mary  as  follows: 

"My  angel  sister  says  she  is  going  away 
from  us  again  soon,  but  says  she  will  be  of- 
ten with  us.  She  says  Lurancy  is  a  beauti- 
ful girl ;  says  she  sees  her  nearly  every  day, 
and  we  do  know  she  is  getting  better  every 


day.  Oh,  the  lessons  that  are  being  taught 
us  are  worth  treasures  of  rare  diamonds ; 
they  are  stamped  upon  the  mind  so  firmly 
that  heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away  be- 
fore one  jot  or  one  tittle  shall  be  forgotten. 
*  .  *  *  I  have  learned  so  much  that  is 
grand  and  beautiful,  I  cannot  express  it ;  I 
am  dumb.  *  *  A  few  days  ago  Mary  was 
caressing  her  father  and  mother,  and  they 
became  a  little  tired  of  it,  and  asked  why 
she  hugged  and  kissed  them.  She  sorrow- 
fully looked  at  them,  and  said,  'Oh,  pa  and 
ma!  I  want  to  kiss  you  while  I  have  lips  to 
kiss  you  with,  and  hug  you  while  I  have 
arms  to  hug  you  with,  for  I  am  going  back 
to  heaven  before  long,  and  then  I  can  only 
be  with  you  in  spirit,  and  you  will  not  al- 
ways know  when  I  come,  and  I  cannot  love 
you  as  I  can  now.  Oh,  how  much  I  love  you 
all  I'" 

Mary  writes  to  Dr.  Stevens,  in  an  envel- 
ope with  Mr.  Koff,  under  date  of  May  7th, 
as  follows : 

DEAR  DOCTOR:— I  thought  I  would  write 
you.  I  am  at  Aunt  Carrie's ;  am  going  to 
take  dinner  with  her.  *  *  Yesterday  I 
went  and  spent  the  day  with  Mrs.  Vennum. 
She  had  a  dreadful  headache  and  I  rubbed  it 
away.  Pa  is  quite  busy  in  his  office  to-day. 
Ma  is  feeling  a  good  deal  better.  *  *  lam 
feeling  quite  well,except  my  breast  hurts  me 
some  to-day.  It  commenced  hurting  me  last 
night.  *  *  I  treat  ma  in  the  morning  and 
Nervie  at  night  for  hard  colds  and  cold  feet. 
"VVe  all  went  to  the  Reform  Club  last  Satur- 
day. Aunt  Carrie's  essay  was  splendid,  and 
very  affecting,  *  *  We  all  read  that  let- 
ter in  the  RELIGIO-PHILOSOPHICAL  JOUR- 
NAL from  your  daughter,  and  liked  it  very 
much.  MARY  ROFF. 

In  the  same  letter  Mr.  Roff  writes: 

"I  want  to  give  you  a  little  scene ;  time, 
Monday  moraine:,  May  6th;  place,  A.  B. 
Roff 's  office,  Watseka;  present,  A.  B.  Roff 
at  table  writing;  Frank  Roff  at  the  table 
at  the  right  or  A.  B.  R. ;  door  behind  A. 
B.,  and  a  little  to  the  left;  enters  unheard 
the  person  of  Lurancy  Vennum ;  places  her 
arm  around  the  neck  of  A.  B.  Roff,  kissing 
him  and  saying,  'Pa  I  am  going  with  Mrs. 
Vennum  to  visit  to-day ; '  A.  B.  Roff  looks 
around  and  discovers  standing  in  the  door 
Mrs.  Vennum,  Lurancv 'smother,  looking  on 
the  scene.  The  girl  then  bade  an  affectionate 
good-by  to  Frank ;  A.  B.  R.  asks :  'How  long 
will  you  stay  ? '  She  replies,  'Till  two  or 
three  or  o'clock.'  Mrs.  Vennum  then  said  to 
Mr.  Roff :  'If  she  does  not  get  back  at  that 
time,  don't  get  alarmed,  we  will  take  care  of 
her.'  Exit  Mrs.  V.  and  the  girl.  You  don't 
know  how  my  heart  aches  for  that  poor  mo- 
ther, yet  she  is  much  happier  than  she  was 
last  winter  with  Lurancy  as  she  was."  *  * 

On  May  7th,  the  day  of  writing  the  last 
letter,  Mary  called  Mrs.  Roff  to  a  private 


10 


THE  RELIGIO-PHILOSOPHICAL  JOURNAL  TRACTS. 


room,  and  there  in  tears  told  her  that  Lu- 
rancy  Yennum  was  coming  back.  She  seem- 
ed very  sad,  and  said  she  could  not  tell 
whether  she  was  coming  to  stay  or  not ;  that 
if  she  thought  she  was  coming  to  stay,  she 
would  want  to  see  Nervie  and  Dr.  Alter 
and  Allie,  and  bid  them  good-by.  She  sat 
down,  closed  her  eyes  and  in  a  few  moments 
the  change  took  place,  and  Lurancy  had 
control  of  her  own  body.  Looking  wildly 
around  the  room  she  anxiously  asked : 

"Where  am  I  ?  I  was  never  here  before." 

Mrs.  Roff  replied. 

"You  are  at  Mr.  Roff's,  brought  here  by 
Mary  to  cure  your  body." 

She  cried  and  said : 

"I  want  to  go  home." 

Mrs.  Roff  asked  her  if  she  could  stay  till 
her  folks  were  sent  for. 

She  said : 

"No." 

She  was  then  asked  if  she  felt  any  pain  in 
her  breast.  (This  was  during  the  period  that 
Mary  was  suffering  pain  in  the  left  breast ; 
continually  holding  her  hand,  pressing  it.) 
She  replied : 

"No,  but  Mary  did." 

In  about  five  minutes  the  change  was 
again  made,  and  Mary  came  overjoyed  to 
find  herself  permitted  to  return,  and  called, 
as  she  often  had,  for  the  singing  of  her  pre- 
vious girlhood's  favorite  song,  "We  are  Com. 
ing  Sister  Mary." 

The  child  seemed  possessed  of  all  the  nat- 
ural affection  for  the  family  that  a  daught- 
er and  sister  of  fine  feelings  and  cultivated 
tastes  might  be  supposed  to  possess,  after 
an  absence  of  twelve  years,  and  she  often 
took  occasion  to  demonstrate  that  affection 
by  endearing  names  and  kindly  words. — 
When  walking  with  Mrs.  Alter,  her  sister 
Nervie  as  she  called  her,she  would  say,  "Ner- 
vie,my  only  sister.put  your  arm  around  me." 
Or,  "Come  Nervie,  put  your  arm  around  me 
and  we  will  take  a  little  walk  in  the  garden 
or  the  grove,  for  I  cannot  be  with  you  much 
longer  and  I  want  to  be  with  you  every  min- 
ute I  can."  When  Mrs.  Alter  would  ask  her 
when  or  where  she  was  going,  she  would 
say  "The  angels  tell  me  I  am  going  to  heav- 
en, but  I  don't  know  just  when.     O,  how  I 
wish  you  could  live  here  at  home  with  us 

as  you  used  to  when  I  was  here  before.' 


She  thought  a  great  deal  of  Dr.  Alter,  the 
tiusband  of  her  sister,  but  could  hardly  seem 

0  realize  that  Xervie  was  married  and  had 
a  family  for  eleven  years.    She  said  when 
she  got  into  this  body  she  felt  much  as  she 
did  when  she  was  here  twelve  years  ago 
This   body   seemed   as   natural  to  her  as 
though  she  had  been  born  with  it,  yet  she 

iould  not  do  with  it  as  she  would  like  to. 
She  did  not  seem  to  realize  at  first,  but  this 
was  her  own  original,  physical  body,  until 
angels  explained  it  to  her.  and  she  had 
received  information  and  instructions  from 
ler  parents,  sister,brother  and  friends  about 
it.  So  natural  did  it  seem  to  her,  after  know- 
ing all  the  facts,  that  she  could  hardly  feel 
it  was  not  her  original  body  born  nearly 
thirty  years  ago. 

In  conversation  with  the  writer  about  her 
former  life,  she  spoke  of  cutting  her  arm 
as  heretofore  stated,  and  asked  if  he  ever 
saw  where  she  did  it.  On  receiving  a  neg- 
ative answer,  she  proceeded  to  slip  up 
her  sleeve  as  if  to  exhibit  the  scar,  but  sud- 
denly arrested  the  movement,  as  if  by  a  sud- 
den thought,  and  quickly  said,  "0,  this  is 
not  the  arm ;  that  one  is  in  the  ground,"  and 
proceeded  to  tell  where  it  was  buried,  and 
how  she  saw  it  done  and  who  stood  around, 
how  they  felt,  etc.,  but  she  did  not  feel  bad. 

1  heard  her  tell  Mr.  Roff  and  the  friends 
present,  how  she  wrote  to  him  a  message 
some  years  ago  through  the  hand  of  a  medi- 
um, giving  name,  time  and  place.     Also  of 
rapping  and  of  spelling  out  a  message 'by 
another  medium,  giving  time,  name,  place, 
etc.,  etc.,  which  the  parents  admitted  to  be 
all  true.    I  heard  her  relate  a  story  of  her 
going  into  the  country  with  the  men,  some 
twenty  odd  years  ago,  after  a  load  of  hay, 
naming  incidents  that  occurred  on  the  road, 
which  two  of  the  gentlemen  distinctly  re- 
membered. 

In  one  of  those  beautiful  trances  which 
rendered  her  entirely  oblivious  to  all  phys- 
ical surroundings,  appearing  in  a  state  of 
happy  ecstasy,  and,  so  far  as  manners  and 
movements  are  concerned,  perfectly  normal 
and  graceful,  with  visions  and  senses  fully 
open,  she  went  to  heaven  as  she  called  it,  in 
company  with  another  young  lady  in  like 
condition,  whose  name  must  be  reserved 
until  the  wonderful  history  she  is  making, 


MARY  LURANCY  YENNUM. 


11 


shall  be  made  public  by  the  consent  of  all. 
They  saw  and  conversed  about  the  beautiful 
scenes  before  them,  pointing  out  individu- 
als, giving  names,  relationship,  histories 
facts,  etc.,  describing  places  and  things. 
Mary  pointed  out  and  described  some  with 
titles  of  Royalty,  such  as  Mary  Queen 
of  Scotts,  Henry  IV,  King  of  France,  and 
others  of  equal  note,  showing  a  rich  bio- 
graphical and  historical  reading  or  experi- 
ence and  acquaintance  in  spirit-life.  Then 
bowing  low,  and  kneeling  with  hands  fold- 
ed, and  heads  together,  as  if  in  the  most 
devout  and  solemn  devotion  remained  in  lis- 
tening silence  for  some  time,  then  rising,the 
unnamed  girl  said : 

"He  came  to  bless,  didn't  he  Mary?  a 
bright,  beautiful,  angel." 

After  talking  of  the  different  classes  they 
were  observing,  and  the  "lovely  children" 
attracting  so  much  of  their  attention,  Mary 
seemed  to  take  in  her  arms  a  very  little, 
tender  infant  and  said:  "This  is  Sister 
Nervie's  baby ;  how  sweet  and  beautiful  it 
is.  Don't  you  think  it  is  a  sweet  little  an- 
gel?" The  other,  in  softest  accents  said, 
"Yes,  but  it  seems  to  me  they  are  all  too  pure 
to  be  touched  by  such  as  we,"  and  after  some 
time  the  babe  was  carefully  handed  back  to 
the  care  of  the  angels.  Mrs.  Alter,  who  was 
present,  had  recently  lost  by  death,  a  beau- 
tiful babe  and  had  scarcely  recovered  from 
her  confinement.  The  whole  scene  was  one 
of  uncommon  interest,  very  affecting  and 
impressive  beyond  description. 

For  the  discovery  of  facts  unknown  to 
others,  Mary  seemed  remarkably  developed. 
One  afternoon,  she,  with  much  concern  and 
great  anxiety,  declared  that  her  brother 
Frank  must  be  carefully  watched  the  com- 
ing night,  for  he  would  be  taken  very  sick, 
and  would  die  if  not  properly  cared  for.  At 
the  time  of  this  announcement  he  was  in 
his  usual  health,  and  engaged  with  the  Roff 
Bros.'  band  of  music  up  town.  The  same 
evening,  Dr.  Stevens  had  been  in  to  see  the 
family,  and  on  leaving,  was  to  go  directly 
to  Mrs.  Hawks,  far  off  in  the  Old  Town, 
and  the  family  so  understood  it.  But  at 
about  nine  and  a  half  o'clock  the  same  even- 
ing, Dr.  Stevens  returned  unannounced  to 
Mr.  Marsh's,  Mr.  Roff's  next  neighbor,  for  the 
night.  At  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  Frank 


was  attacked  with  something  like  a  spasm 
and  congestive  chill,  which  almost  destroy- 
ed his  consciousness.  Mary  at  once  saw  the 
situation  as  predicted,and  said,  "Send  to  Mrs. 
Marsh's  for  Dr.  Stevens.  "No,  Dr.  Stevens 
is  at  Old  Town,"  said  the  family.  "No," 
said  Mary,  "he  is  at  Mr.  Marsh's ;  go  quick 
for  him,  pa."  Mr.  Roff  called,  and  the  doc- 
tor, as  Mary  said,  was  at  Mr.  Marsh's.  On  his 
arrival  at  the  sick  bed,  Mary  had  entire 
control  of  the  case.  She  had  made  Mrs. 
Roff  set  down ;  had  provided  hot  water  and 
cloths  and  other  necessaries,  and  was  doing 
all  that  could  be  done  for  Frank.  The  doc- 
tor seconded  her  efforts  and  allowed  her  to 
continue.  She  saved  her  brother,  but  never 
made  a  move  after  the  doctor's  arrival, with 
out  his  co-operation  or  advice. 

Mary  often  spoke  of  seeing  the  children 
of  Dr.  Stevens  in  heaven,  who  were  about 
her  age  and  of  longer  residence  there  than 
herself.  She  said  she  was  with  them  much, 
and  went  to  his  home  with  him.  She  correct- 
ly described  his  home,  the  rooms,  furniture, 
gave  names  and  ages  of  his  children,  and  as 
evidence  of  her  truthf ulness,  told  of  a  re- 
markable experience  of  Mrs.  E.  M.  Wood, 
one  of  the  doctor's  married  daughters,  which, 
on  account  of  its  peculiar  features,  and  the 
faith  of  some  of  the  relatives  was  not  in- 
tended for  the  public,  yet  was  a  beautiful 
evidence  of  angel  guardianship.  She  stated 
the  story  minutely,  saying  that  was  where 
and  when  she  got  Mrs.  "Woods'  name,  for 
she  was  present  with  others  she  named. 

The  doctor's  daughter  Emma  Angelia,  who 
had  been  in  spirit-life  since  March  10th, 
1849,  sought  through  Mary  to  take  the  body 
she  was  controlling  and  go  home  with  her 
father  to  Wisconsin,  to  visit  the  family  for 
a  week,  and  Mary  was  disposed  to  let  her 
do  it ;  she  asked  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Roff  if  she 
should  let  Emma  Stevens  have  the  body  for 
a  week  to  go  with  her  father  to  see  and  be 
with  her  mother,  sisters  and  brother,  so 
they  could  realize  it  was  Emma  ?  But  no 
one  thought  it  advisable. 

To  show  the  ease  with  which  Mary  con- 
trols, or  goes  in  and  out,  as  it  is  said,  and 
the  perfect  medium  the  body  of  Lurancy 
is,  a  single  instance  will  suffice.  On  the  21st 
day  of  April,  in  the  parlors  of  Mrs.  Roff,  in 
the  presence  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Roff,  their 


THE  KELIGIO-PHIL03OPHICAL  JOURNAL  TRACTS. 


hired  woman  Charlotte,  Doctor  Steel  and 
wife,  Mrs.  Twing,  of  Oregon,  Mrs.  Alter, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  M ,  and  the  writer,  mani- 
festations of  a  very  peculiar  and  happy  char- 
acter occurred.  Mary  being  the  last  one  to 
join  the  company  in  the  parlor,  took  the  only 
vacant  seat,  next  a  gentleman  friend.  Dr. 
Steel  became  influenced  by  a  brother  of  one 
of  the  persons  present,  and  made  a  very 
striking  address,  with  a  good  deal  of  energy 
and  pathos.  On  his  becoming  disentranced 
and  entering  into  the  general  conversation, 
Mary  voluntarily  disembodied  her  controll- 
ing power,  and  leaving  the  girl's  form  like 
a  corpse,  with  the  head  resting  against  the 
shoulder  of  her  friend,  immediately  took 
control  of  Dr.  Steel,  and  in  every  possible 
way  required  proved  it  to  be  herself,  she 
then  through  that  manly  form,  turned  in  a 
jovial  way  and  laughed  at  the  position  of 
the  seemingly  untenanted  body  and  its  limp 
condition,  with  a  pleasant  jest  at  the  friend 
who  supported  it.  She  soon,  however,  re- 
turned to  her  own  proper  control  and  seem- 
ed to  enjoy  the  trick  she  had  played,  in  the 
control  of  the  gentleman. 

In  a  few  moments  she  appeared  peculiar, 
and  calling  the  hired  woman  to  follow  her, 
they  left  the  room.  Soon  she  returned  clad 
in  an  old-fashioned  way,  with  gown,  cap, 
cape  and  spectacles,  etc.,  leaning  on  the  arm 
of  Charlotte  as  if  bowed  down  with  many 
years.  Not  one.trace  of  the  girl  could  be  seen 
save  in  the  youthful  skin  of  the  face.  Tak- 
ing a  seat  in  the  old  arm  chair,  she  began  to 
talk  as  an  old  lady  of  olden  times  might  be 
supposed  to  do,  representing  herself  as  the 
grandmother  of  Charlotte,  giving  her  name, 
inquiring  after  all  the  relatives,  old  and 
young,  asking  by  name  for  those  belong- 
ing to  families  the  girl  could  have  known 
nothing  about.  Said  she  died  of  cancer  near 
the  right  eye  and  temple ;  called  for  tepid 
water  and  soft  cloth,  which  being  furnished, 
proceeded  in  the  most  natural  manner  to 
bathe  and  dress  the  cancer.  She  called  for 
food  and  ate  it,  apparently  without  teeth, 
smoked  after  it,  as  she  used  to  do,  because 
her  food  always  hurt  her  if  she  did  not.  She 
asked  for  knitting  work.  It  being  furnished, 
she  found  fault  because  the  knitter  did  not 
know  how  to  knit.  Raveling,  out  and  taking 
up  again  she  knit,  at  the  same  time  telling 


Charlotte  how  to  knit  without  looking  at  it. 
She  next  asked  for  mending  and  other  things 
to  do.looked  at  the  fabric  of  the  ladies'dress- 
es,  asking  the  prices,  etc.,  etc.  She  looked 
out  at  the  windows,  remarked  how  pleasant 
a  place  it  was,  and  so  continued  for  a  full 
hour,  never  for  a  moment  showing  any  sign 
of  deception,  but  a  veritable,  honest,  exper- 
ienced domestic  old  lady.  Numerous  other 
personations  might  be  related  but  this  is 
sufficient. 

When  inquired  of  as  to  form  materializa- 
tion she  said  it  was  a  truth,  though  she 
had  never  tried  it  because  She  did  not  know 
how,  but  should  learn  how  when  she  found 
an  opportunity. 

During  her  stay  at  Mr.  EofFs  her  physi- 
cal condition  continually  improved,  being 
under  the  care  and  treatment  of  her  sup- 
posed parents  and  the  advice  and  help  of  her 
physician.  She  was  ever  obedient  to  the 
government  and  rules  of  thefamily,  like  a 
careful  and  wise  child,  always  keeping  in 
the  company  of  some  of  the  family,  unless 
to  go  into  the  nearest  neighbors  across  the 
street.  She  was  often  invited  and  went  with 
Mrs.  Eoff  to  visit  the  first  families  of  the 
city,  who  soon  became  satisfied  that  the  girl 
was  not  crazy,  but  a  fine,  well-mannered 
child. 

The  manner  in  which  she  acted  for  a  con- 
siderable time  after  coming  into  Mr.  Eoff's 
family  was  very  strange  to  many.  Sitting 
down  to  the  tea-table  on  one  occasion,  Mrs. 
Roff  asked: 

"Now,  Mary,  what  shall  I  help  you  to  ?  " 

She  answered: 

"O,  nothing,  I  thank  you,  ma,  I'll  go  to 
heaven  for  my  tea." 

Suiting  the  action  to  the  word,  off  she 
went  into  a  quiet  trance  or  to  heaven  as  she 
termed  it,  and  so  remained  till  the  family 
had  eaten,  when  she  returned  to  her  normal 
state.  Being  again  asked,  she  said  she  had 
been  to  tea,  and  the  question  was  put: 

"Mary,  what  do  you  eat,  and  how  do  you 
eat  it?" 

Her  answer  was : 

"O  ma,  if  I  could  tell,  you  could  not  un- 
derstand it." 

And  thus  for  some  time  she  only  ate  in 
that  way,  except  a  very  little  occasionally, 
to  pacify  the  anxious  family.  As  her  system 


MARY  LURANCY  VENNUM. 


became  in  better  condition,  she  ate  more 
freely,  and  for  many  weeks  toward  the  last 
she  ate.  drank  and  slept  as  a  healthy  person 
should. 

As  the  time  drew  near  for  the  restoration 
of  Lurancy  to  her  parents  and  home,  Mary 
would  sometimes  seem  to  recede  into  the 
memory  and  manner  of  Lurancy  for  a  little 
time,  yet  not  enough  to  lose  her  identity  or 
permit  the  manifestation  of  Lurancy's  mind, 
but  enough  to  show  she  was  impressing  her 
presence  upon  her  own  body. 

On  being  asked,  "Where  is  Lurancy?"  she 
would  say,  "Gone  out  somewhere,'  or,  "She 
is  in  heaven  taking  lessons,  and  I  am  here 
taking  lessons  too." 

On  Sunday,  May  19th,  about  half  past  four 
o'clock,  P.  M.,  Mr.  Koff  and  Mary  were  sit- 
ting in  the  parlor,  Henry  Vennum,  Luran- 
cy's brother,  being  in  the  sitting  room,  an- 
other room  and  hall  between.  Mary  left  con- 
trol, and  Lurancy  took  full  possession  of  her 
own  body.  Henry  was  called  in  and  she 
caught  him  around  his  neck,  kissed  and 
wept  over  him,  causing  all  present  to  weep. 
At  this  juncture,  Mr.  Eoff  was  called  and 
asked  Lurancy  if  she  could  stay  till  Henry 
could  go  and  bring  her  mother  (she  had  ex- 
pressed a  desire  to  go  and  see  her  father  and 
mother)  She  said  "No,"  but  if  Henry  would 
go  and  bring  her,  she  would  come  again  and 
talk  with  her.  She  immediately  left  and 
Mary  came  again.  When  Mary  was  asked 
where  she  had  been  ?  she  replied,  "I  have 
seen  Doctor  Stevens  and  he  looks  as  good 
as  ever  again." 

Mrs.  Vennum  was  brought  within  an  hour, 
and  on  her  arrival,  Lurancy  came  into  full 
control,when  one  of  the  most  affecting  scenes 
ever  witnessed  took  place.  Mother  and 
daughter  embraced  and  kissed  each  other, 
and  wept  until  all  present  shed  tears  of 
sympathy ;  it  seemed  the  very  gate  of  Heav- 
en. 

On  the  morning  of  May  21st,  Mr.  Koff 
writes  as  follows : 

"Mary  is  to  leave  the  body  of  Rancy  to- 
day, about  eleven  o'clock,  so  she  says.  She 
is  bidding  neighbors  and  friends  good-by, 
Rancy  to  return  home  all  right  to-day.  Ma- 
ry came  from  her  room  up  stairs  where  she 
was  sleeping  with  Lottie,  at  ten  o'clock  last 
night,  lay  down  by  us,  hugged  and  kissed 
us,  and  cried  because  she  must  bid  us  good 
by,  telling  us  to  give  all  her  pictures,  mar- 


bles and  cards,  and  twenty-five  cents  Mis. 
Vennum  had  given  her,  to  Rancy,  and  had 
us  promise»to  visit  Rancy  often.  She  tells 
me  to  write  to  Dr.  Stevens  as  follows:  'Tell 
him  I  am  going  to  heaven,  and  Rancy  is 
coming  home  well.  She  says  she  will  see 
your  dear  children  in  spirit  life;  says  she 
saw  you  on  Sunday  last.'  *  *  She  said 
last  night,  weeping,  'O  pa,  I  am  going  to 
heaven  to-morrow  at  eleven  o'clock,  and 
Rancy  is  coming  back  cured,  and  going 
home  all  right.'  She  talked  most  lovingly 
about  the  separation  to  take  place,  and 
most  beautiful  was  her  talk  about  heaven 
and  her  home.'' 

Mrs.  Alter  writes : 

"When  the  day  came,  and  the  angels  told 
Mary  that  Lurancy  was  coming  to  take  full 
possession  of  her  own  body,  it  seemed  to 
make  her  feel  very  sad.  She  went  to  the 
residences  of  Mr.  L.  C.  Marsh  and  Mr.  M. 
Hoober,  to  say  good-by,  telling  them  the  an- 
gels had  said  the  body  was  cured,  and  Lu- 
rancy was  coming  to  go  home  and  live  with 
her  parents  again  all  well,  yet  she  says,  'I 
feel  sad  at  parting  with  you  all,  for  you 
have  treated  me  so  kindly ;  you  have  helped 
by  your  sympathy  to  cure  this  body,  and 
Rancy  can  come  and  inhabit  it.'" 

This  shows  that  the  angels  can  help  the 
children  of  earth.  Mr.  M.  Hoober  being  a 
pious  Christian  gentleman,  and  loving  Ma- 
ry for  her  sweet  influence  in  his  family, 
came  into  the  room  and  asked  if  she  would 
like  to  sing  with  him  and  his  good  wife. 
She  said: 

"Yes,  I  am  so  sad,  but  when  I  go  to  heav- 
en all  tears  will  be  wiped  away,  and  I  will 
be  happy." 

After  singing  th'ey  all  knelt  down,  and 
Mr.  Hoober  made  a  very  affecting  prayer, 
saying,  "If  it  can  be  that  an  angel  is  in  our 
midst,  and  about  to  leave  us  to  go  and  join 
her  own  in  spirit-life,  will  God  in  his  good- 
ness allow  her  to  bear  a  message  of  love  to 
my  own  angel  father  and  loved  ones,  who 
may,  for  all  we  can  see,  be  hovering  around 
our  household  at  this  moment."  He  hoped 
we  would  all  be  better  and  wiser,  and  when 
Lurancy  should  come  back  to  her  normal 
condition,  would  be  better  for  the  strange 
and  new  lessons  she  has  learned. 

Mary  had  sent  word  to  her  sister  Nervie 
to  come  to  her  father's  to  stay  an  hour  with 
her.  to  say  good-by,  and  when  Rancy  should 
come  back  at  eleven  o'clock,  to  take  her  to 
Mr.  Roff's  office,  and  he  would  c?o  to  Mr. 
Vennum's  with  her.  Mary  said:  "I  will 


u 


THE  RELIGIO-PHILO8OPH1CAL  JOURNAL  TRACTS. 


come  in  spirit  as  close  to  you  as  I  can,  and 
comfort  you  in  sorrow,  and  you  will  feel  me 
near  you  sometimes."  • 

When  eleven  o'clock  came  she  seemed 
loth  to  go  or  let  Eancy  come  back.  Mrs.  Al- 
ter started  to  go  home  and  Mary  started 
with  her.  When  in  the  yard,  Mrs.  A.  said, 
"Mary,  you  have  always  done  as  you  said 
you  would,  but  as  I  don't  understand  these 
things,  will  you  please  let  Lurancy  come 
back  just  now,  and  then  you  can  come 
again  if  you  want  to."  Mary  said:  "Yes,  I 
will,"  and  she  kissed  mother  and  sister 
good-by. 

A  voice  said,  "Why,  Mrs.  Alter,  where  are 
we  going?"  Then  in  a  breath,  "Oh,  yes,  1 
know,  Mary  told  me  I" 

On  the  way  they  met  Mrs.  Marsh  and  Mrs. 
Hoober,  who  were  the  nearest  neighbors 
and  Mary's  favorite  friends ;  Luraney  did 
not  seem  to  know  them,  but  remarked, 
'  Mary  thinks  so  much  of  these  neighbors." 
Then  turning  to  Mrs.  Alter,  with  whom  Lu- 
rancy had  been  but  slightly  acquainted  two 
years  ago,  she  said,  "Mrs.  Alter,  Mary  can 
come  and  talk  to  you  nearly  all  the  way 
home,  if  you  want  her  to,  and  then  I  will 
comeback."  She  spoke,  and  appeared  like 
one  slightly  acquainted.  Mrs.  Alter  said 
"I  have  trusted  you  in  the  past,  and  of 
course  I  would  love  to  talk  with  my  sister." 

The  change  was  again  made,  and  Mary 
said,  "I  do  love  to  be  with  you  so  much." 

She  talked  lovingly,  and  gave  good  advice 
about  many  things  and  f  a*mily  matters.  The 
final  change  now  took  place  at  the  time 
predicted,  and  Lurancy  stated  she  felt 
something  as  though  she  had  been  asleep, 
yet  she  knew  she  had  not.  On  reaching  Mr. 
Eoff' s  office,  she  addressed  him  as  Mr.  Eoff, 
and  asked  if  he  would  take  her  home,  which 
he  did. 

May  22nd,  Mr.  Eoff  writes  me  as  follows: 

"Thank  God  and  the  good  angels,  che  dead 
is  alive  and  the  lost  is  found.  I  mailed  you 
a  letter  yesterday  at  half  past  ten  o'cock  \. 
M.,  stating  that  Mary  had  told  us  she  would 
go  away,  and  Rancy  return  at  eleven  o'clock 
the  21st  of  May.  Now  I  write  you  that  at 
half  past  eleven  o'clock  A.  M.,  Minerva  call- 
ed at  my  oflice  with  Eancy  Yennum,  and 
wanted  me  to  takd  her  home,  which  I  did. 
She  called  me  Mr.  Eoff,  and  talked  with  me 
as  a  young  girl  would,  not  being  acquaint- 
ed. I  asked  her  how  things  appeared  to 
her— if  they  seemed  natural.  She  said  it 


seemed  like  a  dream  to  her.  She  met  her  pa- 
reuts  and  brothers  in  a  very  affectionate 
manner,  hugging  and  kissing  each  one  in 
tears  of  gladness.  She  clasped  her  arms 
around  her  father's  neck  a  long  time,  fairly 
smothering  him  with  kisses.  I  saw  her  fa- 
ther just  now  (eleven  o'clock).  He  says  she 
has  been  perfectly  natural,  and  seems  en- 
tirely well.  You  see  my  faith  in  writing 
you  yesterday  morning  instead  of  waiting 
till  she  came." 

The  Watseka  Republican  says: 
"The  meeting  with  her  parents  at  the 
home  was  very  affecting,  and  now  she  seems 
to  be  a  healthy,  happy  little  girl,  going 
about  noting  things  she  saw  before  she  was 
stricken,  and  recognizes  changes  that  have 
since  taken  place.  This  is  a  remarkable 
case,  and  the  fact  that  we  cannot  under- 
stand such  things,  does  not  do  away  with 
the  existence  of  these  unaccountable  mani- 
festations. " 

The  Danville  (111.)  limes,  in  speaking  of 
this  case,  says : 

"Mr.  and  Mrs.  Eoff  are  Spiritualists,  and 
stoutly  maintain  th?t  their  daughter's  abil- 
ity to  penetrate  closed  books  and  letters  in 
the  manner  indicated,  was  imparted  by  the 
inhabitants  of  an  unseen  world.  We  have 
no  fixed  opinion  as  to  whether  Spiritualism 
is  false  or  true.  Certain  it  is,  that  occur- 
rences are  upon  record  which  are  hard  to 
explain  upon  any  natural  hypothesis,  but 
attributable  to  spirits'  aid.  Let  those  say 
who  know,  for  we  do  not.  In  spite  of  all 
opposition,  Spiritualists  have  increased  in 
numbers,  nor  are  they  confined  to  the  illit- 
erate classes,  but  embrace  poets,  scholars 
and  statesmen.  Let  us  hope  the  unharmful 
truth  will  early  assert  a  glorious  reign,  and 
illuminate  the  darkened  understanding  of 
men." 

The  Iroquois  county  (111.)  Times,  under 
the  head  of  "Mesmeric  Mysteries,"  and  in 
reference  to  Lurancy  Vennum,  says : 

"Mr.  and  Mrs.  Eoff  kindly  offered  to  take 
charge  of  her  until  her  mind  would  change, 
and  she  would  become  well  again.  She 
went  there  in  February,  and  remained  till 
about  three  weeks  ago.  Since  then  she  has 
been  Lurancy  Vennum,  and  is  healthy  and 
full  of  intelligence.  *  *  It  was  hard  for 
even  the  most  skeptical  not  to  believe  there 
was  something  supernatural  about  her. 
she  was  not  prompted  by  the  spirit  of  Mary 
Eoff,  how  could  she  know  so  much  about 
the  family,  people  with  whom  she  was  not 
acquainted,  and  whom  she  had  never  visit- 
ed V  *  *  No  stranger  would  have  suspect- 
ed her  of  being  the  victim  of  disease,  though 
her  eyes  were  unusually  bright.  *  "  There 
are  yet  numberless  mysteries  in  this  world, 
though  science  has  dissipated  many  won- 
ders, and  philosophy  has  made  plain  many 


MARY  LURANCY  VENNUM. 


15 


marvels.  There  is  much  that  is  unaccount- 
able in  the  action  of  spiritualistic  mediums, 
and  they  do  many  things  that  puzzle  the 
greatest  philosophers.  Skeptical  and  unbe- 
lieving as  we  are,  and  slight  as  our  experi- 
ence has  been,  we  have  seen  enough  to  con- 
vince us  that  Spiritualism  is  not  all  hum- 
bug. The  case  of  Lurancy  Vennum,  a  bright 
young  girl  of  fourteen  years,  has  been  the 
subject  of  much  discussion  in  Watseka  dur- 
ing the  past  year,  and  there  is  a  good  deal 
in  it  beyond  human  comprehension. " 

The  subject  of  this  article  had  become 
familiar  with  the  writer  during  the  several 
months  she  was  under  his  advice  and  the 
more  kindly  care  and  sympathy  of  Mr. 
Rofi's  family,  speaking  with  him  freely  up- 
on every  subject  necessary  to  her  good  and 
the  courtesies  of  association,  always,  how- 
ever, in  the  presence  of  members  of  the 
family.  On  Sunday,  the  second  day  of  June, 
he  met  her  with  her  parents  at  the  house  of 
a  friend,  who  lived  nearly  two  miles  from 
Mr.  Yennum's.  Lurancy  was  introduced  to 
him  by  Mr.  Vennum.  She  seemed  to  be  an 
entire  stranger,  and  for  two  hours  remained 
like  a  timid,  unacquainted  child.  The  next 
day,  June  3rd,  without  notice  to  any  one,  the 
writer  went  to  the  house  of  a  noted  attorney, 
and  as  he  entered  the  gate,Lurancy  came  out 
the  door,  stopped  on  the  steps  and  said,"How 
do  you  do,  Doctor  ?  Mary  Roff  told  me  to 
come  here  and  meet  you.  Somehow  she 
makes  me  feel  you  have  been  a  very  kind 
friend  to  me ;"  and  she  would  not  let  him  in- 
to the  house  till  she  had  delivered  a  long 
message  from  Mary.  Since  the  last  inter- 
view he  has  seen  her  several  times,  and  she 
seems  easy,  affable,  and  as  a  young  lady 
should. 

On  the  25th  of  June  she  wrote  a  beautiful 
letter,  by  the  consent  of  her  friends  saying 
among  other  thines: 

"Dear  Doctor,  I  am  feeling  quite  well  to- 
day. I  was  up  to  Mrs.  Alter  s  to-day ;  she  is 
very  well  at  present.  This  afternoon  I 
called  at  Mr.  Roff  s  office,  and  had  quite  a 
long  talk  with  him ;  but  of  course  it  was 
about  the  loving  angels  that  you  and  I  love 
so  well.  Let  them  twine  around  your  neck 
their  arms  and  press  upon  your  brow  their 
kiss.  *  *  Well,  Doctor,  you  have  many 
dear  friends  in  this  city  who  love  you  much. 

1  saw  Mrs.  M .  She  said  she  would  have 

died  if  it  had  not  been  for  you,  and  you 

know  about  Mrs.  I .  We  know  you  saved 

her  life.  *  *  Kiss  your  loving  wife  for 
me,  and  tell  her  we  shall  all  meet  in  heaven 
if  not  on  earth.  *  *  I  shall  visit  Mrs 


Eoff  to-morrow.  *  *  I  shall  have  my  pic- 
ture taken  and  send  it  to  you  in  mv  next 
letter.  I  get  up  early  and  take  the  morning 
air.  I  should  like  to  have  you  write  a  line 
to  me.  Your  friend, 

LURANOY  VENNTJM. 

.  This  letter,  written  in  pencil,  is  very  dif- 
ferent in  its  make-up  and  penmanship  from 
those  written  by  the  same  hand,  signed  by 
Mary  Roff,  and  gives  evidence  of  another 
mind. 

Since  penning  the  foregoing  article,  the 
writer  has  received  the  following  letter  from 
the  mother  of  Lurancy,  through  the  polite- 
ness of  Mr.  Roff: 

WATSEKA,  ILL.,  July  9th,  1878. 
DEAR  FRIEND: — Mary  L.  Vennura  is  per- 
fectly and  entirely  well,  and  perfectly  nat- 
ural. For  two  or  three  weeks  after  her  re- 
turn home,  she  seemed  a  little  strange  to 
what  she  had  been  before  she  was  taken 
sick  last  summer,  but  only,  perhaps,  the 
natural  change  that  had  taken  place  with 
the  girl,  and  except  it  seemed  to  her  as 
though  she  had  been  dreaming  or  sleeping, 
etc.  Lurancy  has  been  smarter,  more  intel- 
ligent, more  industrious,  more  womanly  and 
more  polite  than  before.  We  give  the  cred- 
it of  her  complete  cure  and  restoration  to 
her  family,  to  Dr.  E.  W.  Stevens  and  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Roff,  by  their  obtaining  her  re- 
moval to  Mr.  Roff' s,  where  her  cure  was 
perfected.  We  firmly  believe  that  had  she 
remained  at  home,  she  would  have  died,  or 
we  would  have  been  obliged  to  send  her  to 
the  insane  asylum,  and  if  so,  that  she  would 
have  died  there,  and  that  further,  that  I 
could  not  have  lived  but  a  short  time  with 
the  care  and  trouble  devolving  on  me.  Sev- 
eral of  the  relatives  of  Mary  Lurancy,  in- 
cluding ourselves,  now  believe  she  was 
cured  by  spirit  power,  and  that  Mary  Roff 
controlled  the  girl. 

MRS.  LURTNDA  VENNUM. 

On  the  10th  of  July  Mr.  Roff  writes: 

DEAR  DOCTOR:— Mr.  Vennum  is  out  of 
town,  but  1  have  often  talked  with  him, 
and  I  know  his  opinion,  often  expressed, 
that  Lurancy  and  her  mother  would  both 
have  died  if  we  had  not  taken  the  girl ;  he 
gives  all  credit  to  yourself  and  us  for  it.  He 
believes  it  was  spirit  agency  that  did  the 
work.  Lurancy  is  in  perfect  health,  and 
"much  more  womanly  than  before"  (so  her 
mother  says).  She  says  she  used  to  romp 
and  play  with  her  brothers,  and  with  the 
horses,  etc.  Now  she  is  steady;  you  can 
hardly  imagine  how  the  dear  girl  loves 
those  who  saved  her.  She  sends  you  a  let- 
ter to-day,  but  thinks  it  a  little  strange  you 
have  not  answered  her  last  letter. 
Yours,  etc., 

A.  B.  ROFF. 


16 


THE  RELIGIO-PHILOSOPHICAL  JOURNAL  TRACTS. 


In  the  letter  referred  to  above,  the  child 
writes : 

I  am  quite  well,  and  much  obliged  that 
you  showed  my  letter  to  your  dear  wife.  I 
am  sure  there  is  nothing  for  me  to  be 
ashamed  of.  *  *  I  was  down  to  Mr.  M's 
store,  and  he  told  me  how  you  saved  his 
wife's  life,  and  they  appreciate  it.  Will  you 
want  me  to  .give  you  my  description  of 
heaven  ?  I  will  sometime,  when  there  are 
but  few  present.  I  can't  write  it,  for  I 
make  so  many  mistakes.  I  made  a  short 
call  at  Mrs.  Alter's.  *  *  Please  ask  your 
daughter  to  write  to  me.  Can't  you  bring  your 
wife  when  you  come  ?  Poor  Mr.  Wicker- 
sham  still  lives.  We  should  pity  such  mor- 
tals. My  aunt  says  I  know  all  that  has 
transpired,  but  none  know  but  the  angels 
and  you.  Your  friend, 

MARY  L.  VENNUM. 

On  the  evening  of  the  16th  of  July,  1878, 
in  the  parlors  of  Asa  B.  Roff  and  his  wife, 
we,  the  undersigned,  met  and  listened  to  the 
careful  reading  and  consideration  of  the 
foregoing  narrative,  and  declare  it  to  be  en- 
tirely true  and  correct  in  every  respect ;  and 
further,  that  now  after  eight  weeks  of  home 
life,  Lurancy  Vennum  remains  well  and 
sound  in  body  and  mind. 

ASA  B.  ROFF, 

ANN  EOFF, 

THOMAS  J.  VENNUM. 

LTJRINDA  VENNUM. 
WATSEKA,  Iroquois  Co.,  111., 
July  18th,  1878. 

To  THE  READER:— The  writer  has  col- 
lated the  foregoing  facts  from  a  mass  of 
interesting  incidents,  which  might  be  much 
enlarged  upon,  but  he  is  satisfied  with  the 
few  incidents  that  involve  principles  hith- 
erto discussed  by  the  philosophic  world,  and 
sends  them  out  to  make  a  chapter  in  the 
literature  of  Spiritualism.  He  has  this  day 
seen  the  family,  including  the  subject  of  the 
narrative.  Mrs.  Vennum  has  gone  to  Indi- 
ana for  a  two  weeks'  rest  and  visit,  and  left 
Lurancy  in  charge  of  the  family  and  house, 
a  healthy,  happy,  noble  girl. 

E.  WINCHESTER  STEVENS. 
July  19th,  1878 


MARY  LURANCY  VENNUM. 

Views  of  Prominent  Spiritualists  in  Refer- 
ence to  the  Manifestations  through  her 
Organism,  as  Detailed  in  the  Foregoing 
Narrative. 

In  reference  to  the  case  of  nugelic  incar- 
nation (Mary  Roff  and  Lurancy  Vennum) 
reported  by  Dr.  Stevens,  there  is  no  reed  of 
indorsement  or  comment  by  Scientists,  on 
such  facts  so  well  reported.  When  the  sun 
shines  we  need  no  professor  of  optics  to 
teach  us  the  fact. 

One  such  example  of  angel  visitations  to 
earth,  would  enlighten  all  the  world,  if  it 
were  not  for  the  stubborn  hostility  to  truth 
of  the  materialistic  press  and  fossilized 
church,  which  causes  the  systematic  sup- 
pression and  concealment  of  such  informa- 
tion from  the  people,  and  imposes  upon  all 
who  are  really  enlightened  the  duty  of  aid- 
ing in  the  diffusion  of  this  narrative.  I 
think  that  every  Spiritualist  should  pur- 
chase as  many  copies  of  this  remarkable 
narrative  as  he  can  afford,  and  distribute 
them  among  honest  inquirers. 

I  would  add  a  word  in  reference  to  the 
marvelous  fact  of  spirit  exchange  or  trans- 
fer of  souls  between  two  bodies.  All  spirit- 
ualists are  familiar  with  the  trance  medi- 
umship  in  which  one  from  the  Spirit 
world  occupies  a  human  body  while  the 
spirit  of  that  body  is  either  resting  quiet- 
ly, or,  as  has  happened  in  some  cases,  gone 
out  to  obsess  another  body.  Experience 
shows  that  this  is  not  a  hazardous  or  un- 
natural thing,  but  it  is  very  strange  to  those 
who  have  not  learned  the  rudiments  of 
spiritual  science.  By  way  of  explanation  I 
would  say  that  spirit  is  far  more  easily 
transferred  than  matter,  and  that  the  ex- 
change of  souls  between  Mary  Roff  and 
Lurancy  Vennum  is  no  more  marvelous  to 
those  who  understand  it  than  the  pouring 
of  a  quart  of  water  from  a  full  pitcher  into 
one  just  emptied. 

The  spiritual  potency  of  a  dose  of  medi- 
cine of  any  kind  (morphine,  quinine  or  any 
other  drug)  held  in  the  hands  by  any  one 
who  is  not  of  a  hard  temperament,  will  pass 
up  the  arm  and  pervade  the  whole  person. 
It  may  also  be  arrested  in  its  progress  at 
the  arm  and  by  a  few  dispersive  passes 
thrown  out  of  the  body  entirely :  or  it  may 
be  transferred  by  contact  into  the  person  of 
another  individual,  thus  relieving  the  one 
who  first  felt  it  of  the  drug  symptoms. 

As  the  psycho-physiological  effects  are  so 
easily  transferred,  and  as  pains  are  often 
transmitted  from  one  who  is  suffering  them 
to  a  healing  operator  whose  touch  gives 
relief— psychic  impressions  are  still  more 
easily  transferred.  The  intense  melancholy 


MARY  LUKAXCY  VEXXUM. 


17 


or  joy  felt  by  one  individual  is  often  sud- 
denly transferred  to  another  even  without 
touch,  at  the  first  approach  of  a  sympathet- 
ic person. 

But  personal  presence  is  not  necessary.  A 
letter  held  by  a  psychometer  on  the  fore- 
head will  give  the  entire  force  of  the  emo- 
tions of  the  writer  and  a  consciousness  of 
,  his  whole  character,  which  is  vividly  felt. 
Sometimes  the  impression  is  so  complete 
that  the  psychometer  becomes  lost  in  the 
character,  and  actually  personates  it; — as 
in  Boston  thirty-four  years  ago,  an  intellec- 
tual lady,  in  describing  Mr.  Clay  under  the 
influence  of  his  autograph,  at  length  lost 
her  identity  and  assuming  the  dignity  of 
Mr.  Clay,  declined  to  be  catechised  any 
longer  as  to  her  impressions.  Mr.  Clay  was 
then  living. 

The  extremely  impressional  or  sensitive 
individual,  may  thus  take  on  any  character 
by  merely  coming  into  psychometric  rap- 
port with  it,  and  for  a  time  personate  the 
individual,  giving  a  very  good  embodiment 
of  his  character.  Indeed  a  considerable  por- 
tion of  that  which  has  been  considered  spir- 
itual obsession  is  of  this  sympathetic  or 
psychometric  character,  and  is  sometimes  a 
tolerable  expression  of  the  spirit's  senti- 
ments, although  the  spirit  may  have  noth- 
ing to  do  with  it.  The  same  sympathetic 
sort  of  quasi-obsession  may  take  place  con- 
cerning living  individuals,  and  the  psycho- 
metric medium  may  personate  and  speak  or 
write  for  a  living  individual,  as  in  the  case 
of  a  girl  in  Ohio,  who  at  the  same  sitting 
wrote  a  prescription  from  Dr.  Hahnemann, 
the  founder  of  Homoepathy  and  another 
from  Dr.  Hill,  a  living  physician. 

Thus  a  spiritual  transfer  of  thought  may 
take  place  by  receptivity,  when  the  party 
supposed  to  speak,  is  entirely  passive.  But 
when  that  party  is  active  his  psysehic  pow- 
er and  personality  are  transmitted  far 
more  effectively  even  when  the  recipient  is 
not  endeavoring  to  receive  them.  Dr.  Brit- 
tan  tells  of  his  own  success  in  projecting 
his  spirit  so  as  to  be  seen  and  recognized  by 
persons  at  a  distance,  and  Dr.  Jno.  F.  Gray 
of  this  city,  a  distinguished  physician,  by 
making  the  effort  to  look  into  the  condition 
of  a  patient  whom  he  could  not  convenient- 
ly visit,  made  so  strong  an  impression  on  the 
man  (who  was  not  expecting  him,  that  he 
firmly  insisted  that  Dr.  Gray  did  visit  him 
and  stand  by  his  bedside  where  he  saw  him) 
and  remarked  on  the  strangeness  of  the 
fact  that  Dr.  Gray  would  come  to  see  him 
and  walk  off  without  saying  anything. 
Hundreds  of  such  cases  are  reported  in 
spiritual  literature,  as  well  as  similar  cases 
in  which  the  party  came  out  of  himself 
spiritually,  has  like  Swedenborg  visited 
the  Spirit-world  and  seen  his  friends,  or  has 
seen  and  described  others  to  the  satisfaction 
of  their  surviving  friends. 

It  is  quite  a  familiar  old  story  for  the  last 


hundred  years  that  clairvoyants  in  mes- 
meric somnambulism  visit  distant  places 
and  describe  them  minutely ;  and  the  Spirit 
world  has  often  been  described  by  the  som- 
nambulists who  have  visited  it. 

There  is  nothing  in  this  "Watseka  wonder" 
which  is  not  illustrated  by  parallel  facts 
and  experiments,  although  they  are  but  lit- 
tle known  to  the  world.  But  in  none  other  do 
we  find  so  satisfactory  an  array  of  public 
and  private  events,  combined  with  the  pe- 
culiar angelic  beauty  of  sentiment  which  is 
displayed  and  which  is  so  honorable  to  all 
concerned.  A  deeply  interesting  volume 
might  be  made  by  compiling  these  authentic 
narratives. 

So  easy  is  the  interchange  between  the 
two  contiguous  worlds,  that  spirits  have 
often  eaten  of  earthly  food  in  their  mate- 
rialization, which  has  disappeared  forever 
as  their  new  bodies  vanished,  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  living  women,  like  Mollie  Fan- 
cher,  of  Brooklyn,  have  been  spiritually  fed 
while  fasting  for  many  months  and  been 
thus  sustained  in  health  like  Mary  Roff.  "I 
have  food  which  ye  know  not"  is  the  lan- 
guage that  may  often  be  used  by  spiritual  ex- 
tatics. 

This  Watseka  case  is  interesting  as  an  il- 
lustration of  the  elevated  and  beautiful  na- 
ture of  spirit  communion,  and  the  gradual 
elevation  of  mankind  by  its  increasing  fre- 
quency and  power.  The  "communion  ot 
saints'1  which  orthodoxy  has  failed  to  real- 
ize is  to  become  hereafter  a  grand  factor  in 
human  elevation,  and,  as  the  centuries  roll 
on,  the  still  accumulating  power  of  the 
Spirit-world,  organized  for  earthly  labors  ot 
love  and  aided  by  the  increasing  spirituality 
of  mankind,  will  surround  our  lives  with 
sweet  influences  as  if  we  were  breathing 
another  atmosphere,  and  standing  in  the 
presence  of  all  that  is  holy. 

J.  E.BUCHANAN. 

No.  1  Livingston  Place,  New  York. 
•»  •  ^ ; 

Views  of  D.  P.  Kayner,  M.  D. 

There  gathers  around  the  case  given  to 
the  public  through  the  RELIGIO  -  PHILO- 
SOPHICAL JOURNAL,  under  the  above  head- 
ing, an  unusual  amount  of  interest.  Being 
personally  well  acquainted  with  Mr.  A.  B. 
Roff  and  his  family,  and  having  some  ac- 
quaintance with  Dr.  Stevens,  and  knowing 
they  are  not  persons  who  would  in  any  man- 
ner lend  themselves  to  a  deception  in  this 
matter,  it  assumes  increased  proportions  in 
its  importance  as  a  wonderful  phenomenon 
in  which  are  displayed  many  principles  re- 
lating to  the  spiritual  philosophy ;  notably 
among  which  are  first,  the  effects  of  bodily 
disease  in  favoring  the  influence  of  uncon- 
genial or  undeveloped  controls;  secondly, 
the  influence  of  cultivated  and  properly  di- 
rected mesmeric  power  in  changing  those 


18 


THE  RELIGIO-PHILOSOPH1CAL  JOURNAL  TRACTS. 


controls  for  more  congenial  ones;  and,  third, 
while  thus  healing  the  physical  body  through 
changing  the  controls,  and  apparently  chang- 
ing the  individuality  of  the  person  controlled, 
giving  a  spirit,  who  had  through  a  similar 
disease  been  deprived  of  a  full  earth  experi- 
ence, an  opportunity  to  enter  again  into 
those  earthly  relations  and  increase  her  ex- 
perience amid  earthly  surroundings.  Tak- 
en all  together,  it  is  one  of  the  best  authen- 
ticated illustrations  of  the  phenomena  and 
philosophy  of  Spiritualism  among  the  mill- 
ions of  phenomena  which  have  been  pre- 
sented to  the  world,  and  the  solution  of  the 
complex  problems  of  the  philosophy  of  life, 
embodied  in  the  phases  presented,  will  great- 
ly tend  to  elucidate  life  s  many  mysteries. 

That  certain  diseases,  as  epilepsy  or  cata- 
lepsy, predispose  to  render  the  subject  easy 
of  control  by  undeveloped  spirits,  seems  to 
have  been  settled  by  this  case.  The  changed 
polarity  of  the  brain-magnets,  deranges  the 
harmonious  control  of  the  individual  spirit 
over  its  body  by  temporarily  suspending  the 
connection,  and  blending  of  the  action  of 
the  spirit  body  or  soul  with  the  physical 
body,  through  which  the  manifestations  of 
mind  are  shown.  In  this  condition  another 
spirit  having  sufficient  knowledge  of  the 
psychic  laws  may  form  a  connection  with 
the  external  organs  of  the  mind,  either  by 
acting  directly  upon  the  brain  itself,  or  seiz- 
ing upon  the  spirit  body  of  the  individual 
thus  affected,  and  through  that,  by  taking 
possession  of  the  brain  and  its  organs,  hold 
control  of  the  mind ;  and,  acting  upon  any 
of  the  faculties  at  will,  sway  the  thoughts, 
words  and  actions  of  the  individual,  thus 
said  to  be  "obsessed"  at  their  pleasure. 

Another  important  lesson  derived  is.  that 
calm,  cultivated  and  properly  directed  mes- 
meric power  is  capable  of  changing  the  con- 
trol and,  in  a  manner,  of  influencing  and  di- 
recting the  operations  of  minds  in  the  mun- 
dane and  supramundane  spheres.  In  this 
we  can  begin  to  see  some  of  the  philosophy 
of  "the  gift  of  healing." 

The  spirit  who  has  learned  the  law  of 
self-control,  whose  cultivated  reason  holds 
the  reins  and  guides  the  intellect,  who 
readily  comprehends  the  necessities  of  the 
hour  and  grasps  them  with  the  strong  grip 
of  an  educated  Will,  has  that  within  him 
which,  when  properly  directed,  is  more  ef- 
fective in  restoring  a  healthy  polarity  to  a 
diseased  brain  and  correcting  all  mental  de- 
rangement than  all  other  means  combined. 
And  this  applies  with  equal  force  to  spirits 
in  the  form  or  those  who  have  departed  this 
life.  The  mental  influences  with  which  an 
invalid  is  surrounded  and  the  manner  in 
which  his  own  mental  machinery  is  set 
in  motion  and  made  to  operate  thereby  is, 
when  adapted  to  the  necessities  of  the  case, 
more  potent  than  drugs  in  effecting  a  cure. 

The  healing  power  which  can  be  impart- 
ed and  aroused  through  the  psychic  forces 


are  multitudinous,  and  vast  in  their  pro- 
portions. Disease  may  be  said  to  be  any 
derangement  in  the  proper  balancing  of  the 
working  forces  of  body  or  mind,  and  the  ad- 
justment of  those  forces,  restoring  the 
equilibrium,  will  bring  a  return  of  health. 
Changing  the  polarity  of  the  brain-magnets 
deranges  the  individual  psychic  control  over 
the  bodily  functions,  and  can  only  be  re- 
stored to  a  normal  action  through  some  ex- 
ternal impression  or  control  which  influ- 
ences the  mental  machinery  to  resume  its 
normal  relations  and  assert  its  wonted  ac- 
tivities. This  may  perhaps  be  accomplished 
through  the  influence  of  drugs ;  but  aside 
from  their  specific  action  upon  special  or- 
gans, they  are,  undoubtedly,  more  efficient  in 
their  operation  upon  the  mind,  in  some 
way  arousing  the  psychic  forces  which 
wheel  the  unbalanced  organs  into  harmoni- 
ous relations  by  which  the  vigor  of  health  is 
regained,  and  the  physician  and  his  reme- 
dies are  applauded. 

It  will  however  be  noticed  in  this  con- 
nection that  the  same  medicine  will  act 
differently  in  the  hands  of  different  physi- 
cians and  will  act  best  in  his  hands  who 
imparts  the  most  genial  and  positive  psychic 
influences. 

But,  perhaps,  the  most  difficult  problem 
to  solve,  is  involved  in  the  question  of 
"obsession" — of  the  spirit  leaving  its  own 
physical  body  and  roaming  at  will  while 
another  spirit  takes  possession  of  the  phy- 
sical habitation  of  that  spirit  and  re-enacts 
over  again  the  scenes  of  its  earth  life  and 
renews  its  earthly  experiences.  From  'an- 
alogy, and  from  the  accumulated  know- 
ledge of  clairvoyance,  it  seems  clearly  es- 
tablished that  a  spirit  cannot  completely 
sever  its  connections  with  the  body  and 
again  re-habilitate  itself  therewith.  Now, 
just  how  far  all  apparent  obsession,  is  sub- 
jective psychological  spirit  control  acting 
upon  and  directing  the  individual's  own 
spirit  to  produce  the  manifestation  present- 
ed ,  is  difficult  to  determine.  In  this  problem 
lies  the  great  mystery  of  the"Watseka  won- 
der," and  its  proper  solution  will  do  more  to 
unravel  the  tangled  skein  of  the  power  of 
mind  on  mind,  of  mind  over  matter,  and  of 
the  peculiarities  of  mediumship,  than  all 
the  sophistical  arguments  of  the  scholastic 
world. 

The  subject  of  obsession  has  engaged  the 
attention  of  some  of  the  ablest  minds  in 
the  world.  Andrew  Jackson  Davis  from 
the  heights  of  clairv9yance,  if  we  rightly 
understand  him,  considers  it  an  utter  im- 
possibility for  one's  spirit  to  leave  his  body 
or  be  displaced  by  another  spirit.  While  on 
the  contrary,  a  case  so  clearly  verified  as 
the  one  under  consideration  will  have 
more  weight  in  deciding  this  question  than 
all  mere  theories  and  assertions. 

Again  what  are  we  to  do  with  the  case, 
where  on  a  vessel  wrecked  at  sea,  one  of  the 


MARY  LURANCY  VENNUM. 


famishing  persons  on  the  wreck  became  un- 
conscious and  lay  almost  as  one  dead  for  two 
hours?  On  awakening  he  informed  the 
captain  a  vessel  was  steering  to  their  relief. 
During  the  time  he  was  lying  in  the  uncon- 
scious state  upon  the  wreck,  he  was  seen  by 
the  mate  of  the  relieving  vessel  to  enter  the 
Captain's  state  room  and  write  upon  his 
slate,  "Steer  due  North- west,"  and  after  the 
rescue,  when  pointed  out  to  the  captain  as 
the  mysterious  person  who  had  done  the 
writing,  on  being  asked  to  write  the  above 
sentence  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  slate, 
the  correspondence  was  perfect. 

The  case  of  a  medium  in  Connecticut 
hunting  up  a  sea  captain  for  the  captain's 
wife,  finding  and  conversing  with  him  in 
London,  giving  him  his  wife's  message,  and 
being  seen  by  the  captain  sufficiently  to  be 
recognized  by  him  on  his  return,  while  the 
medium's  body,  in  an  apparently  dead  state, 
was  lying  in  the  shade  of  an  apple  tree,  is 
worthy  of  consideration. 

To  what  sublime  heights  may  not  man 
soar,  if  he  possesses  the  power  to  step  out  of 
his  mortal  tenement  at  will,  through  a 
knowledge  and  application  of  psychic  law, 
and  leaving  the  body  in  charge  of  some 
other  spirit,  enters  upon  the  experience  of 
the  life  beyond  to  return  and  re-inhabit  the 
body  again  at  the  pleasure  of  the  two  spir- 
its thus  exchanging  experiences?  Which, 
of  the  two  propositions  involved  in  this 
question  is  the  true  one,  calls  for  our  most 
devoted  endeavors  to  discover.  Taken  all 
in  all  this  "Watseka  Wonder"  being  so  well 
verified,  forms  one  of  the  most  interesting 
and  important  chapters  in  the  history  of 
Spiritualism. 


Letter  From  Dr.  S.  B.  Brittan. 

To  THE  EDITOR  ov  THE  RELIOIO-PHILOSOPHIOAL  JOURNAL: 

I  have  read  the  narrative  of  E.  "W.  Stev- 
ens, published  in  late  numbers  of  the  JOUR- 
NAL. The  alleged  facts  are  certainly  ex- 
traordinary, but  they  are  compassed  by 
spiritual  forces,  and  compatible  with  the 
psycho-physiological  laws.  The  internal 
evidence  that  the  statement  accords  with 
the  essential  facts  of  the  case,  is  such 
as  to  secure  a  general  acceptance  of  the 
Doctor's  testimony  among  those  who  may 
have  been  familiar  with  similar  phenome- 
na, and  all  who  are  able  to  comprehend  the 
philosophy  of  their  causation.  In  the  at- 
tempt to  obtain  credence  for  marvelous 
statements  which  have  no  foundation  in  ei- 
ther fact,  law  or  reason,  the  narrator  is  al- 
most sure  to  blunder  by  the  introduction  of 
some  alleged  occurrence  which  involves  an 
impossibility.  The  man  who  knows  little 
or  nothing  of  the  essential  forces  and  fun- 
damental laws  which  govern  spiritual  phe- 
nomena, has  no  certain  means  of  determin- 
ing what  is,  and  what  is  not,  within  the 


range  of  possibilities.  A  single  illustration 
will  serve  to  elucidate  my  idea. 

Many  years  ago,  while  the  writer  was  ed- 
iting the  Spiritual  Telegraph,  a  tricky  fel- 
low sent  us  a  long  account  of  remarkable 
facts,  said  to  have  occurred  at  West  Troy. 
In  his  story  of  the  wonders  alleged  to  have 
been  performed  by  spiritual  agency,  he  de- 
clared that  a  table  rose  from  the  floor  with- 
out hands ;  that  it  floated  out-of  one  open 
window,  'and  after  remaining  suspended, 
mid  air,  over  the  sidewalk  for  a  little  time, 
it  slowly  returned  through  another  open 
window  and  resumed  its  former  position. 
Had  the  narrator  stopped  at  this  point  in 
his  story,  we  could  only  have  said,  well,  the 
alleged  facts  are  remarkable,  but  they  are 
altogether  possible;  and  then  our  accept- 
ance or  rejection  of  the  statement  would 
have  been  determined  by  our  judgment  of 
the  credibility  of  the  witness.  Instead  of 
pausing,  however,  in  time  to  prevent  an  im- 
peachment of  his  veracity,  he  went  on  to 
say  that  he  measured  both  the  table  and  the 
window,  and  found  that  the  former  was  fif- 
teen inches  wider  the  narrowest  way  than 
the  latter.  In  other  words,  this  Munchau- 
sen  story-teller  made  an  inflexible  object — 
one  utterly  incapable  of  the  slightest  com- 
pressibility—pass through  a  space  between 
unyielding  walls,  fifteen  inches  less  than  it 
was  known  to  occupy,  and  without  break- 
ing either  the  frame  or  fiber  of  the  table.  It 
required  but  little  philosophy  to  decide  that 
such  an  assumed  fact,  if  not  altogether  im- 
possible, in  the  nature  of  things,  was  at 
least  highly  improbable. 

The  same  party  sent  us  some  half  dozen 
similar  communications,  every  one  in  a  new 
chirography,  and  mailed  at  a  different  post- 
office.  But  we  spotted  the  author  every 
time;  marked  his  papers  "bogus,"  and  thrust 
them  all  into  the  same  pigeon-hole.  Some- 
time after  the  writer  received  a  brief  note 
from  this  pretended  medium,  dated  and 
postmarked  at  Brooklyn.  The  material  por- 
tions of  the  note  were  as  follows : 

SIR: — I  perceive  that  you  are  an  old  bird,  and 
not  to  be  taken  on  chaff.  I  thought  I  could  sell 
you  out,  but  you  are  too  d d  sharp  for  me."  *  * 

Subsequently  this  same  miserable  trick- 
ster ventured  on  a  further  trial  of  his  ex- 
periment by  sending  his  villainous  inven- 
tions to  the  late  Hon.  Horace  Greeley, 
whose  motto— adopted  with  special  and  ex- 
clusive reference  to  this  subject— was,  "Give 
us  the  facts;  «ve  want  no  philosophy."  The 
editor  of  the  Tribune  published  the  state- 
ments, with  an  implied  editorial  indorse- 
ment, when  a  little  philosophy  would  have 
enabled  him  to  detect  the  fraud  and  expose 
the  impostor. 

My  own  investigation  of  the  facts  and 
laws  of  mind  and  matter,  as  displayed  in 
the  relations  of  spirits  to  the  phenomena  of 
psycho-physiology,  assures  me  that  there  is 
nothing  in  the  narrative  of  Dr.  Stevens  that 


THE  RELIGIO-PHILOSOPHiCAL  JOURNAL  TRACTS. 


is  intrinsically  incredible ;  and  in  all  such 
cases  we  have  only  to  satisfy  ourselves,  and, 
if  possible,  the  public,  of  the  intelligence, 
discrimination  and  veracity  of  the  witness- 
es. It  is  quite  natural  for  the  average  phy- 
sician, who  is  usually  a  man  of  small  faith 
and  a  materialist  in  his  philosophy,  to  refer 
all  such  spiritual  phenomena  to  physical 
causes.  The  familiar  diagnosis  resolves  all 
spasmodic  attacks,  such  as  the  Doctor  has 
described,  into  epilepsy,  catalepsy  and  hys- 
teria. It  is  safe  to  assume  that  these  con- 
ditions and  various  forms  of  disease  may, 
and  often  do,  result  from  the  operation  of 
both  physical  and  spiritual  causes.  They 
may  be  produced  by  any  violent  disturbance 
of  the  subtile  forces  on  which  the  vital 
functions  and  voluntary  motion  are  made 
to  depend.  The  abnormal  action  of  the  in- 
dividual's own  mind,  and  the  violence  of 
his  passions ;  the  presence  and  influence  of 
powerful  magnetic  forces  emanating  from 
other  persons,  whose  minds  and  lives  are 
disorderly ;  and  the  direct  agency  of  spirits 
of  another  world,  whose  unfinished  or  oth- 
erwise unsatisfactory  lives  prompt  them  to 
come  back  in  the  hope  of  recovering  what 
was  lost,  and  performing  what  was  left  un- 
done, are  chief  among  the  causes  and  influ- 
ences which  derange  the  human  body  and 
mind.  The  spirits  of  the  class  referred  to 
exist  in  great  numbers  along  the  border- 
line between  the  two  worlds,  and  it  is  not 
strange  that  they  raid  across  the  frontiers 
of  our  visible  existence,  in  some  cases  to 
our  injury. 

It  may  assist  the  reader  to  form  an  intel- 
ligent judgment  of  the  facts  comprehended 
in  the  narrative  of  your  correspondent,  if  I 
briefly  analyze  the  peculiar  forms  of  dis- 
ease to  which  such  phenomena  are  usually 
referred.  Epilepsia,  or  epilepsy,  is  other- 
wise known  in  common  parlance  as  "the 
falling  sickness."  The  word  is  derived  from 
the  Greek,  and  literally  signifies  to  seize 
upon.  The  application  of  the  classical  word 
appears  to  have  been  determined  by  the 
suddenness  of  the  attack ;  and  the  proprie- 
ty of  the  familiar  terms  employed  to  repre- 
sent the  disease,  must  be  evident  to  any  one 
who  has  ever  witnessed  the  sudden  manner 
in  which  the  patient  falls  to  the  ground  in 
an  epileptic  fit.  The  ancients  regarded  this 
as  "the  sacred  disease,"  for  the  reason  that 
it  disordered  the  mind — the  noblest  part  of 
our  human  nature— and  also  because  they 
attributed  its  existence  to  spiritual  causes. 

The  victim  of  this  fearful  malady  some- 
times has  little  or  no  warning  of  the  attack ; 
but  in  other  cases,  and  more  frequently,  the 
paroxysm  is  preceded  by  certain  symptoms, 
some  of  which  are  cognizable  by  the  patient 
and  the  qualified  observer.  The  symptom 
most  frequent  in  the  experience  of  the  sub- 
ject, is  a  feeling  of  coldness,  as  if  occasion- 
ed by  a  light  current  of  air  proceeding  from 
some  part  of  the  body,  usually  the  lower 


portion  of  the  spinal  column,  or  from  the 
region  of  the  kidneys.  This  peculiar  feel- 
ing is  known  to  the  faculty  as  the  aura  epi- 
leptica.  Other  symptoms  are  diminished 
contractile  power  of  the  muscles,  a  feeling 
of  debility,  flatulence,  palpitation  and  stu- 
por. As  the  cool,  creeping  sensation  ap- 
proaches the  head,  the  subject  becomes  diz- 
zy ;  sensation,  consciousness  and  voluntary 
motion  are  suspended;  the  paroxysm  fol- 
lows, and  may  last  from  one  minute  to  a 
quarter  of  an  hour  or  longer,  during  which 
the  muscles  are  powerfully  convulsed,  the 
respiration  difficult,  the  patient  froths  at 
the  mouth,  the  features  are  distorted  and 
the  face  flushed  or  otherwise  discolored. 
The  attack  is  followed  by  a  feeling  of  un- 
usual lassitude  and  a  disposition  to  sleep. 

This  disease  no  doubt  results  from  a 
great  variety  of  physical  causes  and  inci- 
dental conditions  occurring  in  the  experi- 
ence of  the  individual.  Among  these  I  may 
mention  organic  defects  and  hereditary  pre- 
disposition ;  want  of  a  proper  cerebral  bal- 
ance and  a  uniform  distribution  of  the  vital 
motive  power ;  sudden  fright,  heavy  blows 
and  violent  shocks  to  the  nervous  system ; 
the  change  that  occurs  at  the  age  of  puber- 
ty and  solitary  vice.  That  it  may  also  re- 
sult from  more  subtile  and  psychological 
causes,  and  the  visitations  of  disorderly 
spirits,  I  am  equally  well  assured.  The 
most  enlightened  of  the  ancient  nations  en- 
tertained this  idea,  and  were  disposed  to  as- 
cribe all  similar  diseases  to  the  invisible 
sphere  of  spiritual  causation.  This  is  suffi- 
ciently evident  from  the  evangelical  narra- 
tives of  similar  cases,  in  which  all  the  more 
important  phenomena  of  epilepsy  are  plain- 
ly described. 

Before  referring  to  several  ancient  exam- 
ples, I  will  briefly  define  the  nature  of  cata- 
lepsis,  or  catalepsy.  In  this  disease  sensa- 
tion and  all  the  voluntary  faculties  and 
functions  of  mind  and  body,  are  suddenly 
arrested.  The  organs  of  involuntary  mo- 
tion usually  continue  their  functions;  the 
heart  and  lungs  moving  in  ordinary  cases, 
the  former  with  an  accelerated  action  and 
diminished  power.  It  is  also  characterized 
by  unusual  rigidity  of  the  muscles.  The 
body  and  limbs,  though  stiff  and  statue- 
like,  may  be  moved  by  the  effort  of  another, 
and  they  retain  the  posture  in  which  they 
are  left,  however  unnatural  and  uneasy  the 
position.  The  particular  expression  on  the 
face,  at  the  moment  of  the  attack,  is  liable 
to  remain.  The  paroxysm  varies  in  the  de- 
grees of  intensity  in  different  patients ;  anrl 
the  time  that  may  transpire  before  the  res- 
toration to  the  normal  condition  is  alto- 
gether uncertain.  In  profound  states  of 
catalepsis  all  outward  signs  of  life  some- 
times disappear;  the  processes  of  the  ani- 
mal chemistry  cease,  and  the  trance  may 
continue  for  weeks.  In  this  state  of  sus- 
pended animation  many  persons  have  been 


MARY  LURANCY  VENNUM. 


buried  alive,  or  before  the  spirit  had  sever- 
ed its  connection  with  the  body. 

I  have  neither  the  time  nor  space  to  at- 
tempt an  exhaustive  treatment  of  the  sub- 
ject, much  as  society  needs  a  complete  phi- 
losophy of  its  material  facts  and  essential 
laws.  My  exposition  of  the  causes  and  as- 
pects of  these  forms  of  disease,  must  be  gen- 
eral. I  do  not  propose  a  critical  classification 
of  the  symptomatic  phenomena,  whether 
physical  or  psychological ;  nor  is  it  my  pur- 
pose to  consider  the  means  and  methods  to 
be  employed  in  the  treatment  of  the  same. 
It  is  rather  my  present  design  to  call  atten- 
tion to  a  profound  but  much  neglected  sub- 
ject, which,  however,  most  deeply  concerns 
the  public  welfare.  Beyond  this,  I  desire  to 
show  that  the  abnormal  conditions  and 
startling  phenomena  under  consideration, 
may  and  do  result  from  causes  resident  in 
both  the  material  and  spiritual  worlds. 
Even  when  an  attack  of  either  epilepsy  or 
catalepsy  is  precipitated  by  purely  organic 
conditions  and  physical  causes,  the  subse- 
quent state  and  its  phenomenal  aspects  are 
very  likely  to  be  complicated  by  the  play 
of  psychological  forces  and  the  interposi- 
tion of  spiritual  visitors. 

It  is  natural  that  the  spirits  whose  lives 
on  earth  were  cut  short  by  either  acts  of 
violence  or  the  supervention  of  disease, 
should  have  a  desire  to  continue  the  career 
that  terminated  prematurely.  In  like  man- 
ner, all  who  are  conscious  of  haying  neg- 
lected their  opportunities  in  this  world, 
must  desire  to  finish  up  the  incomplete 
work  of  this  rudimental  life.  Those  who 
have  committed  great  wrongs  on  earth  may 
be  forced  back  by  a  law  of  the  moral  con- 
stitution— or  f rom  an  irresistible  impulse 
to  undo  the  mischief  of  their  hands — to  the 
scenes  of  the  ruin  they  have  made.  Such 
spirits — reviewing  the  records  of  their  lives, 
imperishable  forever  in  the  memory— ear- 
nestly seeking  relief  from  ignorance  and 
unhappiness,  may  seize  on  any  poor,  help- 
less mortal  in  the  hope  of  deriving  some 
satisfaction  from  a  temporary  renewal  of 
the  former  relations.  Filled  with  recollec- 
tions of  time  wasted ;  a  life  madly  sacrificed, 
or  at  best  disorderly  and  profitless,  they  are 
liable  to  derange  the  body  and  mind  of  any 
delicate  subject  who  may  willingly  or  oth- 
erwise yield  to  their  iniluence.  In  all  this 
we  are  not,  as  a  rule,  authorized  to  infer 
that  the  spirits  are  maliciously  disposed.  It 
may  suffice  that  they  are  ignorant  and 
clumsy  to  account  for  the  disorderly  re- 
sults of  their  influence.  Should  a  common 
tinker  attempt  to  manipulate  a  fine  chro- 
nometer, he  would  be  sure  to  derange  its 
action.  The  man  who  has  never  handled 
anything  more  delicate  than  chain  cables, 
could  never  tune  my  lady's  harp.  An  ig- 
norant magnetizer,  with  strong  passions, 
an  unsuitable  temperament  and  unbalanced 
brain,  might  derange  and  upset  the  nervous 


system  of  a  sensitive  girl,  and  so  may  an 
ignorant  spirit,  who  has  not  yet  recovered 
from  the  similar  imperfections  of  the  life 
on  earth. 

The  careful  reader  of  the  New  Testament 
will  have  observed,  not  only  that  cases  of  vi- 
tal and  mental  derangement— corresponding 
in  all  their  essential  features  to  the  forego- 
ing analyses  of  epilepsy  and  catalepsy— were 
of  frequent  occurrence ;  but  also,  that  they 
were  invariably  ascribed  to  the  agency  of 
demons  or  spirits.  Among  the  Greeks  a 
demon  was  not  always  regarded  as  an  evil 
spirit.  The  word  was  not  understood  to 
either  express  or  imply  anything  in  respect 
to  his  moral  qualities.  The  ancients  be- 
lieved in  both  good  and  evil  demons  or 
spirits  of  men.  When,  therefore,  we  trans- 
late the  word  into  English,  and  call  the  de- 
mon of  the  Greek  Scriptures  a  devil,  we 
neither  change  his  nature  nor  acquire  a 
right  to  defame  his  character.  We  can  not 
make  a  good  spirit  evil  by  giving  him  a  bad 
name.  Those  only  who  produced  unhappy 
effects  were  characterized  as  "unclean  spir- 
its ;"  by  which  we  may  understand  spirits 
wanting  intelligence  and  a  high  moral  pur- 
pose. It  was  an  important  part  of  the  busi- 
ness of  the  early  Evangelical  teachers,  un- 
der the  apostolic  commission,  to  cast  out 
the  spirits  whose  influence  was  found  to  be 
detrimental. 

The  fact  can  not  be  disputed,  that  the 
different  classes  of  demons  referred  to  by 
the  early  Greeks  embraced  "the  disembodied 
spirits  of  the  dead,  without  respect  to  their 
moral  qualities,"  and  they  appear  to  have 
been  "the  favorite -sources  of  information." 
The  distinction  between  two  general  classes 
is  clearly  made  in  the  following  passage  by 
a  learned  author: 

"There  is  also  a  second  class  of  demons,  namely: 
the  souls  of  those  who  having  lived  meritoriously 
have  departed  from  the  body.  Such  a  soul  I  find 
called  in  the  ancient  Latin  tongue  Lemur.  Of 
these  Lemures,  he,  who  having  obtained  by  lot 
the  guardianship  of  his  posterity,  presides  over 
the  house  with  a  quiet  and  placable  superintend- 
ence, is  called  the  household  Lar.  But  those, 
who,  on  account  of  a  vicious  life,  having  obtained 
no  happy  seats,  are  a  sort  of  vagabonds,  or  are 
punished  by  a  kind  of  exile ;  and  who  inflicts  idle 
terrors  upon  good  men,  but  more  real  evils  upon 
the  wicked.  This  kind  is  commonly  called  Larvae." 
— Apocatastasis,  p.  89. 

The  narratives  of  the  Evangelists  contain 
many  references  to  the  agency  of  spirits,  in 
the  transfiguration  of  mortals,  and  in  modi- 
fying human  feeling,  thought  and  conduct. 
For  the  time  being,  and  as  long  as  the  spir- 
it maintained  the  ascendancy  over  the  me- 
dium, the  former  often  governed  the  voli- 
tion and  action  of  the  latter.  As  I  am 
treating  the  subject  in  its  relation  to  cer- 
tain forms  of  disease,  I  shall  make  my  cita- 
tions from  the  Christian  Scriptures  with  a 
special  view  to  the  illustration  of  that  rela- 


THE  RELIGIO-PHILOSOPHICAL  JOURNAL  TRACTS. 


tion,  and  the  power  of  Spirits  to  damage 
the  organic  action  of  mind  and  body.  I 
will  here  introduce  examples  which  will 
exhibit  their  demeanor  and  show  the  man- 
ner in  which  they  handled  their  subjects. 
It  is  related  that  while  Jesus  was  teaching 
in  a  synagogue  in  Capernaum,  that  there 
was  a  man  present  who  had  "an  unclean 
spirit."  The  medium  while  under  this  in- 
fluence was  inclined  to  be  noisy.  He  dis- 
covered the  name  and  character  of  the 
Teacher,  and  in  a  declamatory  style  insisted 
on  Deing  let  alone. 

"And  Jesus  rebuked  him,  saying,  'Hold  thy 
peace  and  come  out  of  him.'  And  when  the  un- 
clean spirit  had  torn  him,  and  cried  out  in  a  loud 
voice,  he  came  out  of  him."  (Mark,  chap.  I,  35-26.) 

\Vhen  Jesus  was  coming  out  of  a  ship  in 
which  he  had  just  crossed  the  sea  of  Gali- 
lee: 

— "Immediately  there  met  him  out  of  the  tombs 
a  man  with  an  unclean  spirit,  who  had  his  dwell- 
ing among  the  tombs;  and  no  man  could  bind 
him,  no,  not  with  chains.  .  .  .  He  had  been  often 
bound  with  fetters  and  chains,  and  the  chains  had 
been  plucked  asunder  by  him,  and  the  fetters 
broken  in  pieces:  neither  could  any  man  tame 
him.  And  always,  night  and  day,  he  was  in  the 
mountains,  and  in  the  tombs,  crying  and  cutting 
himself  with  stones." 

This  spirit  was  rather  boisterous  in  his 
recognition  of  the  man  who  was  about  to 
exorcise  him.  While  the  man  was  under 
the  influence  of  this  spirit,  Jesus  asked  for 
his  name,  whereupon  the  spirit  "answered, 
saying,  'My  name  is  Legion;  for  we  are 
many.' "  (Mark,  Chap.  v.  2-9.) 

It  is  recorded  that  as  Jesus  descended  from 
the  mountain,  after  his  transfiguration,  a 
man  brought  his  only  child  to  him,  whose 
case  is  thus  described: 

"And,  lo  a  spirit  taketh  him,  and  he  suddenly 
crieth  out;  and  it  teareth  him  that  he  foameth 
again;  and  bruising  him,  hardly  departeth  from 
him. .  .  .  And  as  he  was  yet  coming  the  devil 
threw  him  down,  and  tore  him.  And  Jesus  re- 
buked the  unclean  spirit,  and  healed  the  child." 
(Luke,  chap.  IX,  38-41.) 

The  following  is  a  very  accurate  descrip- 
tion of  the  general  phenomena  which  ac- 
company an  attack  of  the  disease  known  as 
Epilepsy : 

"And  one  of  the  multitude  said,  'Master,  I  have 
brought  unto  thee  my  son,  which  hath  a  dumb 
spirit;  and  wheresoever  he  taketh  him  he  teareth 
him,  and  he  foameth,  and  gnasheth  with  his  teeth, 
and  pineth  away'.... And  when  he  saw  him, 
straightway  the  spirit  tore  him;  and  he  fell  to  the 

ground  and  wallowed,  foaming 'And  oft-times 

it  hath  cast  him  into  the  fire,  and  into  the  waters 
to  destroy  him' — Jesus  rebuked  the  foul  spirit, 
saying  unto  him,  'Dumb  and  deaf  spirit,  I  charge 
thee  come  out  of  him,  and  enter  no  more  into  him.' 
And  the  spirit  cried  and  rent  him  sore,  and  came 
out  of  him:  and  he  was  as  one  dead;  insomuch  that 
many  said,  'He  is  dead!  "  (Mark,  chap.  IX,  17-26.) 

It  would  seem  from  this  description  that 
the  paroxysm  was  followed  by  a  state  of 
suspended  animation.  It  is  to  be  observed 


that  this  is  not  usually  the  case  in  epilep- 
sy. The  convulsion  is  followed  by  great 
general  prostration— clearly  enough  indi- 
cated in  the  Evangelical  description  by  the 
words,  "and  pineth  away.''  In  all  ordinary 
cases  the  respiratory  movement  continues 
and  the  process  of  the  aeration  of  the  blood 
goes  on  with  only  partial  interruption. 
During  the  continuance  of  the  paroxysm, 
as  a  rule,  the  respiration  is  heavy  and  diffi- 
cult, while  the  heart's  action  is  quick  and 
strong,  but  never  rhythmical;  the  systole 
and  diastole  occurring  at  irregular  inter- 
vals. 

It  seems  that  Mary  Koff  was  subject  to 
spasmodic  attacks  from  early  infancy, 
.whether  originally  produced  by  physical 
causes  or  spiritual  agency,  is  quite  uncer- 
tain. The  general  description  given  does 
not  warrant  the  expression  of  a  decisive 
opinion  on  this  point.  There  appear,  how- 
ever, to  have  been  indications  of  spiritual 
interference  in  her  later  experience.  Her 
melancholy  periods ;  the  "mania  for  bleed- 
ing herself;  her  inability  to  recognize  her 
friends,  and  indisposition  to  heed  the  pres- 
ence of  other  persons;  her  lucid  intervals, 
in  which  she  became  highly  clairvoyant; 
the  preternatural  strength  developed  in  her 
delirium — requiring  the  aid  of  so  many 
persons  to  restrain  her — and  the  manner  of 
her  death — are  facts  which  may  have  de- 
pended largely  on  the  presence  and  agency 
of  Spirits.  In  such  a  case  the  ordinary  pro- 
fessional treatment  for  epileptic  or  catalep- 
tic fits,  would  have  been  powerless  to  afford 
relief;  while  the  attempt  to  drown  out  the 
spirits,  by  flooding  the  house  they  had 
moved  into,  was  if  possible  still  more  pre- 
posterous. 

The  case  of  Mary  Lurancy  Vennum  is 
less  obscure  in  its  origin.  It  was  clearly  a 
case  of  spiritual  entrancement  in  the  begin- 
ning. Had  the  Rev.  B.  M.  Baker  under- 
stood the  nature  of  his  commission  as  a 
preacher  of  the  Gospel,  and  possessed  the 
requisite  qualifications  for  his  office,  he 
would  never  have  thought  of  sending  the 
girl  to  a  lunatic  asylum.  Some  one  has 
said,  "Satan  loves  to  fish  in  troubled  waters." 
If  this  is  true,  the  atmosphere  of  madness, 
in  and  about  an  insane  asylum,  would  fur- 
nish just  the  place  and  the  occasion  for 
disorderly  spirits  to  assemble,  and  in  which 
we  might  expect  the  patient  to  suffer  most 
from  their  influence.  I  should  as  soon 
think  of  ordering  a  file  and  saw  as  a  sedative 
for  a  nervous  woman;  orof  prescribing  a 
small  room  and  a  large  brass-band  as  a 
soporific  for  babies. 

If  we  accept  the  testimony  of  Dr.  Stevens 
and  the  other  witnesses,  the  record  of  the 
three  months  and  ten  days  residence  of 
Mary  Eoff  in  the  body  of  Mary  L.  Vennum: 
forms  a  curious  and  most  significant  chap- 
ter in  the  history  of  Modern  Spiritualism. 
The  sweet  spirit  of  the  gentle  and  loving 


MARY  LURANCY  VENNUM. 


23 


Mary;  the  strong  proofs  of  her  identity; 
how  she  occupied  her  time  while  a  tenant 
at  will  in  the  mortal  tabernacle  of  another, 
and  the  possible  supramundane  experiences 
of  the  released  spirit  of  Lurancy; — these 
are  all  matters  of  singular  interest  which 
invite  comment;  but  the  unexpected  length 
of  this  letter  admonishes  me  to  leave  the 
further  consideration  of  the  subject  to  your- 
self and  your  readers. 

You  will,  however,  indulge  me  in  a  few 
concluding  observations,  which  are  not  in- 
tended to  be  so  general  as  in  no  case  to  ad- 
mit of  a  special  application.  The  poor  vic- 
tims of  physical  disease  and  spiritual  infes- 
tation have  little  chance  to  recover  their 
equilibrium  when  the  professional  classes, 
to  which  the  interests  of  soul  and  body  are 
intrusted,  know  so  little  of  the  real  evils 
they  attempt  to  combat.  The  doctors  of 
medicine,  as  a  rule,  can  not  distinguish  epi- 
lepsy, catalepsy,  hysteria  and  nightmare 
from  the  shades  of  departed  saints  and  sin- 
ners, who  return — whether  for  mischief  or 

"On  errands  of  supernal  grace" — 
to  confirm  the  common  faith  in  immortali- 
ty. Cases  have  come  under  my  observation 
in  which  the  diagnosis  of  the  family  physi- 
cian converted  a  vision  of  the  Spiritual 
Heavens  into  a  fit  of  hysteria.  The  mental 
darkness  of  lunacy  and  the  light  from 
another  world  are  made  to  differ  in  terms, 
but  are  presumed  to  be  about  the  same 
thing  in  fact.  Our  doctors  of  divinity  can 
not  perceive  the  difference  between  aberra- 
tion and  inspiration.  In  their  judgment  a 
man  has  no  business  to  be  inspired  in  these 
degenerate  days ;  and  if  he  is,  they  are  sure 
the  devil  is  in  him.  The  moral  philosophy 
of  Spiritualism  suggests  that  through  the 
medium  of  his  own  faculties  and  passions 
every  man  must  look  at  whatever  is  exter- 
'  nal  to  himself.  While  many  members  of 
the  profession  are  playing  the  devil  in  the 
sheep-fold— as  we  learn  from  the  papers 
and  the  courts— a  legitimate  branch  of  their 
appropriate  business— "casting  out  devils" 
—is  entirely  suspended.  The  clergy  did 
not  succeed  in  this  part  of  the  apostolic 
work.  The  concern  was  so  run  down,  and 
the  proprietors  so  destitute  of  assets  that — 
without  the  slightest  consideration — that 
branch  of  the  business  was  transferred  to 
the  Spiritualists.  If  a  spiritual  wolf  finds 
his  way  into  the  fold,  the  shepherd  permits 
him  to  remain  to  frighten  and  worry  the 
lambs ;  or,  perhaps,  he  advises  sending  the 
little  innocents  to  bedlam  for  safety ! 

Nothing  can  more  clearly  illustrate  the 
materialistic  ter.dencies  of  many  people  than 
their  disposition  to  ascribe  all  spiritual 
phenomena,  manifested  through  the  human 
organization,  to  a  diseased  condition  and 
action  of  the  faculties.  All  persons  who 
have  been  visited  by  the  angels,  or  other- 
wise rendered  susceptible  of  spiritual  influ- 


ence, for  nearly  eighteen  centuries,  are  confi- 
dently presumed  to  have  been  sick  at  the 
;ime.  But  why  not  refer  the  remarkable 
experiences  of  the  Apostles  themselves  to 
;he  same  source.  They  were  men,  subject 
;o  every  form  of  physical  disease,  and  had  1 
*ime  to  analyze  their  cases  it  would  appear 
.hat  they  were  very  much  like  others  in 
all  their  essential  features.  Saul  certainly 
aad  the  "falling  sickness,"  while  on  his  way 
to  Damascus.  He  had  been  in  a  bad  frame 
of  mind  for  some  time,  and  doubtless  was 
bilious.  He  declared  that  he  saw  a  great 
light  and  heard  a  voice.  It  might  have 
been  subjective  thunder  and  lightening,  oc- 
casioned by  a  derangement  of  the  electrical 
polarities  of  his  brain.  And  suddenly  "he 
cell  to  the  earth."  The  attack  so  deranged 
his  nervous  forces  that  for  three  days  he 
saw  nothing,  and  had  no  appetite.  Ananias, 
a  respectable  citizen  of  Damascus,  was  im- 
pressed to  come  in  and  magnetize  him,  and 
his  vision  was  speedily  restored.  The  fall- 
ing sickness  proved  to  be  a  good  thing  in 
this  case.  It  took  the  devil  out  of  the  man, 
and  the  patient  was  improved  in  body, 
mind  and  character.  (Acts,  chap.  IX.) 

"When  Peter  was  in  Joppa,  at  the  house  of 
one  "Simon  a  tanner,"  he  improved  the  oc- 
casion by  going  "upon  the  house-top  to  pray," 
and  there  he  had  a  sudden  spasmodic  attack 
which  doubtless  presented  many  of  the  as- 
pects of  catalepsy.  He  thought  he  "s&w 
heaven  opened,"  and  a  great  vessel  resem- 
bling an  immeasurable  "sheet  let  down  to 
the  earth,"  containing  in  its  enormous  folds, 
the  major  part  of  the  animal  kingdom, 
(Acts  x,  9-12.)  When  the  Kevelator— a  man 
of  poetic  temperament  and  many  woman- 
ly qualities— was  in  Patmos,  one  of  the 
Grecian  Islands,  he  one  day  fell  into  some- 
thing like  a  cataleptic  1  ranee.  To  his  great 
astonishment  the  New  Jerusalem,  in  all  the 
glory  of  a  divine  personality — like  "a  bride 
adorned  for  her  husband" — came  after  John, 
and  his  soul  was  entranced  while  the  grand 
visions  of  the  Apocalypse  moved  before  him 
in  stately  procession. 

It  is  the  favorite  hypothesis  of  many 
doctors,  whose  wisdom  is  chiefly  conspicu- 
ous in  their  diplomas,  that  all  spiritual  phe- 
nomena, so-called,  are  the  results  of  some 
physical  disorder.  To  what  fathomless 
depths  of  apostacy— to  what  gross  and  infi- 
del issues  is  the  unbelieving  world  tending, 
when  its  learned  men  ( ?)  include  the  shades 
of  the  departed  and  the  physical  maladies 
of  the  living  in  the  same  category  I 

"Angels  and  ministers  of  grace  defend  us" 
from  the  titled  ignorance  and  licensed  stu- 
pidity which  can  not  distinguish  a  vision 
of  heaven  from  an  attack  of  epilepsy,  hys- 
teria or  the  nightmare.  Let  the  clergy 
anoint  their  eyes  with  finer  clay  and  wash 
in  the  spiritual  Siloam,  and  they  will  see 
something  beyond  the  creed  and  the  sal- 


THE  RELIGIO-PHILOSOPH1CAL  JOURNAL  TRACTS. 


ary.  This  vulgar  and  profane  idea,  that  all 
psychical  experiences  are  but  the  offspring 
of  disease,  presumes  that  the  perfection  of 
the  individual,  and  his  accord  with  Nature, 
are  best  realized  when  he  is  most  insensi- 
ble of  all  impressions  from  super-terrestrial 
sources.  This  monstrous  assumption  is 
born  of  ignorance  and  sensuality ;  it  is  fos- 
tered by  popular  science,  and  dry-nursed  by 
the  old  theologies ;  while  the  doctors  of  di- 
vinity and  medicine  labor  to  obscure  the  in- 
ward senses  by  "the  foolishness  of  preach- 
ing" and  a  species  of  medical  exorcism. 

Hoping  that  the  time  may  come  quickly, 
when  the  passion  for  new  sensations  among 
our  people,  will  give  way  to  a  growing  de- 
sire for  accurate  knowledge, 

I  remain  yours  fraternally, 

S.  B.  BBITTAN,  M.  D. 
>  >  ^  «  « 

The  Views*  of  Hudson  Tuttle. 

Taking  for  granted  the  truthfulness  of 
the  persons  interested,  of  which  there  ap- 
pears to  be  no  doubt,  the  Watseka  narra- 
tive is  not  only  among  the  most  wonderful 
but  is  replete  with  interest  to  the  student 
of  spiritual  science.  It  pours  a  flood  of 
light  on  some  of  the  rn^st  obscure  questions 
relating  to  the  sensibility  of  the  spirit  and 
its  relations  to  the  body.  "We  do  not  under- 
stand it  as  supporting  the  theory  of  the  dis- 
placement of  the  spirit  of  the  patient  by 
that  of  another,  but  the  subjection  of 
the  spirit  to  the  will  of  another,  as  in  a 
trance  produced  by  magnetism — in  this  state 
the  spirit  is  passive  and  at  rest,  and  the 
physical  body  has  opportunity  to  restore  its 
wasted  energies,  and  further,  the  intimate 
contact  of  the  pure  spirit,  would  react  on 
the  body  and  thus  hasten  its  restoration  to 
health. 

This  is  illustrated  in  our  daily  lives  by 
sleep,  which  is  a  lower  state  of  rest,  in 
which  the  spirit  reposes  and  leaves  the  phys 
ical  processes  of  restoration  to  go  on  with- 
out waste  of  energy,  and  it  is  claimed  by  emi 
nent  authorities  that  this  is  so  much  more 
rapid  during  sleep  than  in  waking  hours,  thai 
really  the  former  is  the  only  time  that  it  oc 
curs.  It  is  also  illustrated  by  the  magnetic 
state  of  trance,  which  restores  by  resting 
the  spirit,  and  reaction  of  another  spirit  on 
the  physical  body  of  the  subject. 

This  opens  the  vast  field  of  investigation 
the  relation  of  the  Spirit-world  to  the  phy 
sical,  wherein  the  true  laws  of  health  and 
disease  remain  to  be  discovered. 

The  return  of  Mary  Roff  to  her  earth  life 
at  first  presents  some  difficulties,  for  had 
she  advanced  in  her  new  life,  as  we  suppos 
she  should,  she  would  have  been  more  ma 
tured.    The  drift  of  facts  recorded   shov 
that  when  the  spirit  comes  in  close  contac 
with  earth  through  a  medium,  it  takes  on 
more  or  less  of  the  traits  and  stains  of  its 


ormer  earth-life.  The  disease  which  pro- 
uced  its  severance  from  the  body,  and  the 
•eculiarities  of  its  character,  are  revived, 
n  this  case,  Mary  Eoff,  as  a  mature  spirit, 
vould  not  have  been  recognized  by  her  Da- 
en  ts;  but  as  a  child-like  daughter  she  filled 
heir  hearts  with  joy.  If  she  came  at  all 
n  a  satisfactory  manner,  she  must  come 
n  the  form  she  presented  herself,  and  this 
was  the  easier  for  her  to  do,  because  of  the 
endency  of  the  returning  spirit  to  take  on 
ts  previous  earthly  character  on  contact 
with  earthly  scenes  through  the  medium. 
l?he  cause  of  this  need  not  here  be  explain- 
ed, for  the  fact  is  sufficient. 

Altogether  the  narrative  is  of  exceeding 
value,  teaching  us  how  readily  our  spirit 
friends  can  come  to  us  when  the  way  is 
opened,  and  with  what  eagerness  they  avail 
hemselves  of  an  opportunity.    It  also  shad- 
ows the  great  power  of  the  spirit  over  the 
body,  and  of  the  Spirit- world,  when  it  comes 
n  contact  with  us.         HUDSON  TUTTLE. 


Supplementary  Statement  by  Mr.  Asa  B. 
Roff. 

To  THE  EDITOE  OF  THE  BELieio-PHiLosoPiiiCAL  JOURNAL: 

Being  almost  daily  in  receipt  of  letters 
:rom  readers  of  the  JOURNAL,  inquiring  as 
x)  the  truthfulness  of  the  narrative  entitled, 
The  Watseka  Wonder,"  and  not  having 
time  to  fully  answer  all  their  questions,  I 
am  impelled  to  collect  from  them  the  promi- 
nent points  of  inquiry  and  objection,  and 
briefly  reply  through  the  JOURNAL.  Per- 
sons hereafter  writing  me,  who  do  not  re- 
ceive an  answer  to  their  letters,  will  seek 
for  the  information  desired  in  this  article. 

One  writer  inquires:  "Is  it  a  fact?  or  is 
it  a  story  made  up  to  see  how  cunning  a 
tale  one  can  tell?"  Another  asks:  "Can- 
the  truthfulness  of  the  narrative  be  sub- 
stantiated outside  of  yourself  and  those  im- 
mediately interested?  Can  it  be  shown  that 
there  was  no  collusion  between  the  parties, 
and  no  former  acquaintance  ?"  A  reader  of 
the  JOURNAL  suggests :  "It  is  a  pretty  big 
yarn,  and  there  might  be  some  arrangement 
between  the  parties,  or  they  themselves 
deceived."  Another  after  saying  he  has 
read  the  narrative,  remarks:  "I  confess 
that  I  am  not  of  your  faith,  and  I  am  very 
doubtful  whether  newspapers  are  always 
embodiments  of  sacred  truths,  and  I  wish 
that  under  your  hand,  as  a  gentlemen,  you 
might  confirm  to  me  and  other  doubting 
friends,  the  strange,  mysterious,  and  to  me, 
fanciful,  statements  in  those  two  papers. 
I  write  wholly  to  overcome  a  doubting  feel- 
ing that  exists  with  myself  and  friends  in 
regard  to  that  remarkable  and  wonderful 
personation."  A  lady  writes:  "Is  the  ac- 
count true  in  every  particular?  I  hope 
there  is  a  life  beyond  this,  but  I  have  never 
had  any  proof." 


MAKY  LUKANCY  VENNUM. 


25 


EEPLT. 

I  furnished  Dr.  Stevens  with  all  the  ma- 
terial facts  in  the  case,  except  such  as  were 
within  his  own  knowledge.  The  history  of 
the  Vennum  family  (and  Lurancy's  condi- 
tion up  to  the  time  he  and  I  went  to  see 
her  J  une  31st),  I  obtained  from  the  mem- 
bers thereof,  and  the  neighbors  intimately 
acquainted  with  them.  The  narrative,  as 
written  by  Dr.  Stevens,  is  substantially  true 
in  every  part  and  particular,  yet  the  half  has 
not  been  told,  and  never  can  be ;  it  is  im- 
possible for  pen  to  describe  or  language 
portray  the  wonderful  events  that  trans- 
pired during  that  m  emorable  fourteen  weeks 
that  the  girl  was  at  our  house.  The  mater- 
ial facts  of  the  case  can  be  substantiated  by 
disinterested  witnesses,  whose  veracity  can- 
not be  questioned,  and  whose  evidence 
would  settle  any  case  in  a  court  of  law.  I 
refer  you  to  Robert  Doyle,  Chas.  Sherman, 
S.  R.  Hawks,  Lile  Marsh,  J.  M.  Hoober,  and 
their  wives,  and  to  Mrs.  Mary  Wagner,  for- 
merly Mary  Lord,  all  residents  of  Watseka. 
As  to  "collusion,"  "arrangement,"  or  "our- 
selves being  deceived,"  that  is  simply  im- 
possible, as  you  will  see  if  you  carefully 
read  the  whole  narrative  over  again.  I,  too, 
doubt  whether  newspapers  are  always  "em- 
bodiments of  sacred  truths,"  but  in  this 
case  I  assure  the  writer,  the  JOURNAL  does 
embody  a  very  sacred  truth,  that  of  man's 
immortality. 

The  lady  writes  me :  "I  hope  there  is  a 
life  beyond  this,  but  I  never  have  had  the 
proof.  To  her  1  would  say  "Carefully 
read  and  study  that  narrative ;  in  that  you 
have  the  proof,  for  surely  it  is  contained 
there.  That  there  is  a  life  beyond  this,  or 
rather  that  there  is  no  death,  you  may  rest 
assured ;  there  is  only  a  change — simply  a 
removal  of  the  real  man  or  woman  from 
this  temporary  house  of  clay,  to  that  house 
not  made  with  hands." 

"There  is  no  death.    The  stars  go  down 
To  rise  upon  some  fairer  shore, 

And  bright  in  heaven's  jeweled  crown 
They  shine  forevermore. 

"There  is  no  death!  The  leaves  may  fall, 
The  flowers  may  fade  and  pass  away, 

They  only  wait  through  wintry  hours 
The  coming  of  the  May. 

"And  ever  near  us  though  unseen, 
The  dear  immortal  spirits  tread, 

For  all  the  boundless  Universe 
Is  life  I  there  are  no  dead  I" 

Talking  with  Mary,  we  sometimes  spoke  of 
her  death.  She  would  quickly  reply :  "I  nev- 
er died,"  or  "I  did  not  die."  She  never  tired 
of  talking  of  the  life  beyond  this.  She 
would  at  any  time  leave  her  play,  her  read- 
ing or  her  jovial  companions,  to  talk  with 
her  "pa"  and  "ma"  about  heaven  and  the 


angels,  as  she  termed  spirit-life,  and  spirits 
that  have  left  the  body. 

I  have  questioned  Lurancy  Vennum  on 
different  occasions,  as  to  whether  she  re- 
membered anything  that  occurred  during 
the  time  that  Mary  had  control  of  her  or- 
ganism, and  she  states  that  a  very  few 
things  occurring  the  last  month  that  she 
was  controlled,  she  recollects,  but  that  in 
all  cases  the  information  was  imparted  by 
Mary. 

In  conclusion,  let  me  say  to  those  who 
doubt  or  disbelieve  the  "strange,  mysterious 
and  wonderful  story,"  call  to  mind  Luran- 
cy's condition  at  her  home  last  January, 
surrounded  with  all  the  kind  care  of  pa- 
rents, friends  and  physicians,  every  thing 
done  to  alleviate  her  suffering  and  perform 
a  cure  that  human  minds  and  hands  could 
possibly  do,  yet  growing  continually  worse 
(if  that  were  possible),  given  up  by  her  phy- 
sicians, her  friends  without  a  ray  of  hope, 
the  insane  asylum  ready  to  receive  her,  a 
condition  terrible  to  behold!  Then  view 
her  condition  from  May  21st  until  to-day, 
over  three  months,  a  bright,  beautiful,  hap- 
py, healthy  girl,  and  then  tell  me  what  pro- 
duced the  change.  The  narrative  furnishes 
the  facts ;  account  for  them  if  you  can,  on 
any  other  hypothesis,  than  power  exercised 
through  or  by  the  spirit  of  Mary  Roff  hav- 
ing control  of  Lurancy's  body. 

I  am  now  60  years  old ;  have  resided  in 
Iroquois  county  thirty  years,  and  would  not 
now  sacrifice  what  reputation  I  may  have 
by  being  a  party  to  the  publication  of  such 
a  narrative,  if  it  was  not  perfectly  true.  If 
any  should  desire  testimonials  of  my  stand- 
ing, Col  Bundy  has  some  to  use  as  he  deems 
best. 

Watseka,  III.,  Aug.  23rd,  1878. 


Asa  B.  Roff. 

The  name  of  this  gentleman  has  lately  be- 
come of  much  interest  to  our  readers  in  con- 
nection with  the  case  of  Lurancy  Vennum. 
From  a  somewhat  lengthy  biographical 
sketch  of  Mr.  Roff,  published  last  January  in 
the  Iroquois  County  Times,  a  paper  printed 
at  Watseka,  we  make  the  following  extracts : 

*  *  *  a  gentleman  now  in  his  60th  year, 
though  with  a  heart  as  voung  and  happy  as 
that  of  a  child ;  agreeable,  generous  and  full 
of  sympathy,  he  is  respected  by  all  who  know 
him,  while  his  more  intimate  friends  love 
and  honor  him  for  his  personal  worth.  ' 
His  present  enviable  standing  anwng  his 
fellow-men  is  entirely  owing  to  his  indomi- 
table energy  and  integrity  of  purpose.  His 
family  is  a  most  exemplary  one;  all  who 
know  them  love  them;  no  family  in  our 
community  are  more  happy  in  their  domes- 
tic relations.  May  it  ever  be  so  with  them. 


THE  RELIGIO-PHILOSOPH1CAL  JOURNAL  TRACTS. 


The  above  extracts  in  connection  with  the 
following  letters,  would  seem  to  establish 
Mr.  Rolf 's  reputation  for  truth  and  veracity 
beyond  all  question: 

WATSEKA,  ILL.,  Aug.  22, 1878. 

Editor  Religio -Philosophical  Journal. 

Dear  Sir.  —Many  inquiries  are  made  of  me 
as  to  the  standing  of  Mr.  Asa  B.  Roff .  These 
questions  are  .elicited  through  the  publica- 
tion in  your  journal  of  Dr.  E.  W.  Stevens' 
account  of  the  Mary  Eoff  and  Lurancy 
Vennum  phenomena.  1  wish  to  say  to  you 
that  no  man  in  this  community  stands  high- 
er in  the  estimation  of  the  people  than  Mr. 
Eoff.  He  is  a  high-minded,  honorable  gen- 
tleman who  would  spurn  to  give  currency  to 
any  thing  not  verified  by  facts.  I  don't  be- 
lieve Mr.  Roff  capable  of  a  mean  act.  It  is 
not  in  his  nature. 

Very  truly  yours, 

MATTHEW  H.  PETERS, 

Mayor  of  Watseka  and  Editor  Iroquois 
Times. 


I  have  been  personally  acquainted  with 
Asa  B.  Eoff  since  the  year  1858,  and  take 
pleasure  in  stating  that  his  character  and 
reputation  for  truth  and  veracity  is  good. 

CHAS.  H.  WOOD, 

Ex-Judge  20th  Circuit  of  Illinois. 
122  LaSalle  st,  Chicago,  Aug.  22, 1878. 

We  have  also  received  letters  speaking  in 
the  highest  terms  of  Mr  .Eoff  and  family, from 
the  following  gentlemen  of  Watseka:  O.  F. 
McNeill,  Ex-County  Judge;  O.  C.  Munhall, 
Postmaster ;  Eobert  Doyle,  Attorney  at  Law ; 
John  W.  Eiggs,  Circuit  Clerk ;  Henry  But- 
zow,  County  Clerk ;  Thomas  Vennum,  f  or- 
mer  Circuit  Clerk;  Franklin  Blades,  Judge 
of  the  Eleventh  Judicial  Circuit;  M.  B. 
Wright,  County  Judge. 


THE  ETHICS 


OF 


SPIRITUALISM; 

A  SYSTEM  OF 

MORAL  PHILOSOPHY, 

Founded  on  Evolution  and  Continuity  of 
Man's  Existence  beyond  the  Grave. 

By  HUDSON  TFTTLE, 

AUTHOR  OF 

"  Arcana  of  Nature,"  "  Antiquity  of 
Man,"  "Career  of  the  God-Idea  in 
History,"  "  Career  of  Religious 
Ideas,"  "  Arcana  of  Spirit- 
ualism," etc. 

THB  FOLLOWING  LIST  COMPBI8B8  80MB  OF/THS  PBINCIPAL 
SUBJECTS  TBEATSD : 

THE  INDIVIDUAL;  THE  GENESIS  AND  EVOLUTION  OF 
SPIRIT;  THE  LAWS  OF  MORAL  GOVERNMENT;  AN- 
ALYSIS OF  MIND  IN  REFERENCE  TO  ETHICS;  THE 
APPETITE;  THE  PROPENSITIES;  LOVE;  WISDOM; 
CONSIDERATION  OF  RIGHTS  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL, 
OF  SOCIETY ;  CONSIDERATION  OF  DUTIES  AND  OBLI- 
GATIONS; DUTIESOF  THE  INDIVIDUAL;  TO  GOD:  OF 
SELF-CULTURE;  DUTIES  OF  SOCIETY;  MARRIAGE, 
ITS  FOUNDATION  AND  RESPONSIBILITY. 


The  "Ethics  of  Spiritualism,"  while  running  In  the  columns 
of  the  RELIGIO-PHILOSOPHIOAL  JOURNAL,  was  widely  no- 
ticed and  commended  by  the  public  and  the  press.  From  the 
various  published  notices  we  quote  a  few,  as  follows: 

"Contains  matter  of  much  Interest  to  liberal  minds."— 
Pequabuck  Valley  Gazette. 

"Hudson  Turtle's  Ethics  of  Spiritualism,  now  being  pub 
lished  In  the  RELIGIO-PHILOSOPSICAL  JOUBNAL,  is  alone 
worth  the  subscription  price  to  that  journal.  When  Hudson 
Tuttle  writes  he  says  something."— Spiritual  Scientist. 

*  *  "  We  congratulate  our  brother  of  Chicago  on  his  secur- 
ing there  valuable  contributions.    No  one  Is  better  qualified 
to  treat  the  subject  intuitively  and  philosophically."    *    *    * 
—Banner  qf  Light. 

*  *  SuQh  a  work  has  long  been  needed  and  never  more  so 
than  at .  this  time,    »    *    »    •    To  me  the  crowning  glory  of 
Spiritualism  is  its  ethical  system,  ite  pure  and  perfect  code  of 
morals.    *    •    I  am  profoundly  grateful  t6  Mr.  Tuttle,  that  he 
has  undertaken  the  work.    *    *    —  Wm.  E.  Coleman. 

*  *  "  This  subject  should  have  been  thoroughly  treated  be- 
fore now  by  some  of  our  ablest  minds,  but  it  may  be  for  the 
best  that  it  has  been  comparatively  neglected,  and  the  duty 
left  to  him  of  presenting  it  in  his  unequalled  way."        *        * 
-Eugene  Crowell,  M.  D.,  author  of  Primitive  Christianity 
and  Modern  Spiritualism. 

"I  have  just  read  your  announcement  concerning  the  series 
of  articles  you  will  soon  begin  to  publish  from  the  ever-active 
and  thoroughly  honest  oen  of  Brother  Hudson  Tuttle.  He  Is 
a  farmer,  and  knows  how  to  plow  and  Bq  w  and  reap ;  a  grape- 
grower,  and  can  discriminate  between  good  and  bad  fruit. 


27 

He  writes  from  the  fulness  of  the  spirit,  and  therefore  he  con- 
stantly rises  above  the  clouds  of  materialism.  He  is  no  sophist, 
no  hair-splitting  apologist  for  the  loose  practices  of  mankind, 
and  so  you  may  look  for  the  highest  and  most  philosophical 
statement  of  the  morality  from  his  faithful  pen ;  and  the  com- 
fort is  great  when  one  reflects  and  knows  to  a  certainty  that 
Hudson  Tuttle  is  no  hypocrite,  and  hence  is  always  person- 
ally as  good  as  his  written  word."— Andrew  Jackson  Davis. 

*  *  "Ihe  questions  he  proposes  to  answer  are  important 
and  concern  us  all,  and  no  writer  is  better  qualified  to  enlight- 
en the  world  on  these  topics.  I  congratulate  you  in  being  able 
to  secure  the  services  of  this  Inspired  philosopher."  *  * 
— WABBEN  SUMNEB  BAKLOW,  author  of  The  Voices. 

The  author  has  steadily  aimed  to  bring  his  work  within  the 
smallest  possible  compass,  and  has  most  admirably  succeeded. 
Though  the  subjects  treated  are  of  the  highest  importance, 
Mr.Tuttle  has  restrained  every  disposition  to  dilate  upon  them 
and  has  thus  condensed  the  book  Into  one  hundred  and  sixty 
pages.  The  book  Is  well  printed  on  heavy  paper  and  altogether 
is  a  work  that  every  Spiritualist  'and  Llberalist.should  own. 


12mo.  Cloth,  160  pp,     Price,  in  cloth,  60  cents. 
Pamphlet,  40  Cents. 

*»*For  sale,  wholesale  and  retail,  by  the  Publishers.  The 
RELIGIO-PHILOSOPHICAL  PUBLISHING  HOUSE,  Chicago. 

JUST  PUBLISHED. 

The  Principles  of 
LIGHT  AND  COLOR: 

INCLUDING  AMONG  OTHER  THINGS 

The  Harmonic  Laws  of  the  Universe,  the 
Etherio  -  Atomic    Philosophy  of   Force, 
Chromo  Chemistry,   Chromo  Thera- 
peutics, and  the  General  Philoso- 
phy of  the  Fine  Forces,  together 
with    Numerous    Discoveries 
and  Practical  Applications. 
Illustrated    by   204   exquisite  Photo-Engravings. 
besides  four  superb  Colored  Plates  printed 
on  seven  plates  each. 

BY  EDWIN  D.  BABBITT. 

This  work  which  te  already  producing  a  sensation  In  scien- 
tific and  cultured  circles,  contains  probably  a  greater  number 
of  remarkable  discoveries  than  any  one  volume  of  modern 
times.  The  demonstration  of  the  form  and  working  of  atoms, 
of  the  basic  principles  of  chemistry  given  for  the  first  time,  o€ 
the  marvelous  Chemical  and  Healing  power  of  Light  and  col- 
or, crystallzed  into  a  science,  and  the  explanation  and  proof 
through  spectrum  analysis  and  clairvoyance  of  a  new  and 
higher  world  of  Light,  Color  and  Force,  invisible  to  the  ordi- 
nary eye  by  means  or  which  the  wonderful  phenomena  of 
Clairvoyance.  Psychology,  Statuvolence,  Mental  Action  the 
Interior  Machinery  of  Life  and  many  of  the  heretofore  un- 
known Forces  of  Nature,  stand  forth  in  clear  light,  and  show 
how  imperfect  human  nature  can  be  made  over  new  by  these 
diviner  processes  of  the  Fine  Forces.  The  wonders  of  vege- 
table growth  as  aided  by  colors  are  also  given  and  the  human 
eye  and  its  diseases  and  methods  are  explained. 

OPINIONS. 

"A  magnificent  work.  "—New  Tork  World. 

•The  most  remarkable  work.  . . .  Will  eause  a  flutter  among 
scientists. . , .  Ingenious,  able  and  very  interesting  even  to  the 
unscientific  reader."— American  Jioolueller, 

"This  superb  volume  opens  up  a  great  field  for  orltrtnal  re 
search.  Theeramnlesofcure  by  means  oflight  and  color  and 
other  fine  natural  forces  which  it  gives  are  truly  marvelous, 
and  a  new  world  generally  unknown  to  our  medical  men  is 
opened  out"—  Truth.  Seeker. 

Clotb,  676  Royal  Octavo  pp.  Price  84.  Postage  fre«. 
*»»For  sale,  wholesale  and  retail,  by  the  RHLIGIO-PHILO- 
BOPHICAL  PUBLISHING  HOUSE,  Chicago. 


CLOCK  STRUCK  ONE 


AND 


Christian  Spiritualist. 

BY 

THE  REV.  SAMUEL  WATSON, 
OF  THE    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   CHURCH. 


Being  a  Synopsis  of  the  Investigations  of  Spirit  Inter- 
course by  an  Episcopal  Bishop,  Three  Ministers,  Five 
Doctors  and  others  at  Memphis,  Tenn.,  In  1855:  also, 
the  Opinion  of  many  Eminent  Divines,  Living  and 
Dead,  on  the  Subject  and  Communications  Received 
from  a  Number  of  Persons  Recently. 

TRUTH  IS  "  MIGHTY  AND  WILL  PREVAIL." 

rpHE  "  CLOCK  STEUCK  ONE,"  is  an  intensely  in- 
•*-  teresting  work  in  Itself,  and  derives  great  additional  in- 
terest from  the  high  standing  of  its  author  in  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  in  which  he  has  been  a  bright  and  shining 
light  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  a  man  who  Is  personally 
known  to  nearly  all  the  clergy  of  the  South  and  to  a  wide  cir- 
cle in  the  North  and  wherever  known  Is  held  In  the  highest 
esteem.  These  circumstances  cause  the  book  to  be  eagerly 
sought  for.  This  anxiety  is  heightened  by  the  action  of  the 
Methodist  Conference  of  which  the  author  is  a  member  In  dis- 
ciplining him  for  publishing  the  book,  thus  attracting  the  at- 
tention of  thousands  of  all  sects  who  are  anxious  to  read  and 
judge  for  themselves  the  "  CLOCK  STRUCK  ONE.* 

l%mo,  Cloth,  price  81.OO  ;  postage  free. 
»*»For  sale,  wholesale  and  retail,   by  the  RELIGIO-PHILO- 
tOFHlCAi  PUBLI8HIN6  HOUSE,  Chicago 

THE  ,        , 

BHAOAVAI>-OITA; 

OR,  A  DISCOURSE  ON  DIVINE  MATTERS, 

BETWEEN 

KRISHNA  and  AUJTJNA. 

A    SANSKRIT    PHILOSOPHICAL    POEM, 

Translated,  with  Copious  Notes,  an  Introduction   o» 

Sanskrit  Philosophy,  and  other  Matter, 

By  J.  COCKBURN  THOMSON, 

MEMBER  OF  THE  ASIATIC  SOCIETY  OF  FRANCE.  AND  OF  THE 
ANTIQUARIAN  SOCIETY  OF  NORMANDY. 

The  book  is  a  12mo.,  278  pp.,  and   the   mechanical 

?art  is  finished  in  a  superior  manner,  being  printed  on 
eavy-tinted  paper  and  bound  in  extra  heavy   cloth 
with  richly  illuminated  back,  borders  and  side  title. 

Price,  91.75.    Gilt,  W2.25  ;  Postage  Free. 

•.•For  sale,  wholesale  and  retail,  by  the  RELIGIO-PHILO- 
SOFHICAL  PUBLISHING  HOUSE,  Clucago. 

NORA    R  A  Y~ 

THE    CHILD-MEDIUM. 
A  Captivating  Book. 

This  is  a  story  of  remarkable  Spiritualistic  power  and  beau- 
ty, depicting  iu  glowing  language  the  wonderful  events  in  the 
life  of  the  child  Nora,  and  the  phases  of  mediumship  which 
she  manifested. 

Paper,  170  pages.    Price  50  cents,  postage  free. 

•.•For  sale,  wholesale  and  retail,  by  the  RKLIGIO-PHILO- 
SOPHICAL  PUBLISHING  HOUSE  Chicago. 


THE 


Clock  Struck  Three. 


Embellished  with  a  fine  Steel  Portrait  of  the 
Author. 


Being  a  Review  of  "  CLOCK  STRUCK  ONE," 
and  a  Reply  to  it— and  Part  Second,  Show- 
ing the  Harmony  between  Christianity, 
Science  and  Spiritualism. 


BY  REV.    SAMUEL  WATSON,  D.  D. 


In  the  long  list  of  distinguished  divines  connected  with  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  few  have  enjoyed  so  high  a  repu- 
tation, and  none  have  been  more  beloved  by  their  constituents 
than  Dr.  WATSON.  In  the  early  days  of  Modern  Spiritualism 
he  honestly  believed  it  to  be  one  of  the  vilest  of  humbugs  and 
the  work  of  the  Devil.  Nor  did  he  ever  Intend  to  give  the  sub- 
ject any  attention,  but  that  about  twenty  years  ago  it  forced 
itself  unbidden  into  his  own  family  circl^r  a  deeply  interesting 
history  of  which  he  gave  to  the  world  in  CLOCK  STRUCK  ONK, 
which  has  already  passed  through  several  editions,  creating  a 
decided  sensation  in  the  church  and  causing  the  author  to  be 
cited  for  trial. 

The  CLOCK  STRUCK  THREE  contains  a  very  able  review  of 
the  first  book  by  a  master-mind  and  a  reply  to  the  same  by 
Dr.  WATSON.  Then  follows  eleven  intensely  Interesting  chap- 
ters, detailing  the  author's  rich  and  varied  experience  and 
giving  the  result  as  showing  that  in  the  author's  opinion,  there 
exists  a  harmony  between  true  Christianity,  as  he  interprets 
it.  Science  and  Spiritualism. 


Extract  troin  the  Introduction. 

•  •  *  May  it  not  be  that  the  semi-infidel  utterances  of  Spir- 
itualism hitherto,  have  been  the  "  foolish  things  "  chosen  to 
confound  the  "mighty"  Materialistic  tendency  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  both  in  Europe  and  America.  •  •  •  Science, 
proud  of  her  past  achievements,  has  well  nigh  surrendered  to 
the  stubborn  facts  of  Spiritualism,  which  will  not  down  at 
their  bidding,  but  submits  cheerfully  to  the  most  exacting  de- 
mands of  scientific  criticism.  This  will  be  seen  fully  when  the 
reader  reaches  that  part  of  the  book  devoted  to  this  subject. 
*  •  *  I  also  give  communications  received  through  a  medium 
In  whom  I  have  all  the  confidence  I  can  havetn  a'iy  one.  in 
either  world,  to  show  that  all  of  my  teachings  have  been  in 
harmony  with  Christianity  as  I  understand  it.  Believing,  as  I 
do,  that  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  Christianity,  properly 
understood,  and  Spiritualism,  disrobed  of  its  excrescences, 
will  be  confirmed  by  science,  and  all  sweetly  harmonizing  in 
hastening  the  millennial  glory  which  is  dawning  upon  the 
frorld,  when  theTtfew  Jerusalem  shall  descend  to  earth. 


12mo.,  cloth,  352  pages,  tinted  paper. 
Postage  Free. 


Price  $1.50. 


•.•For  sale,  wholesale  and  retail,  by  the  RELIGIO-PHILO- 
SOPHIOAL  PUBLISHING  HOUSE,  Chicago. 


BEYONDTHE  VEIL 

A  very  attractive  work  of  this  title  has  lately  been  issued- 
Though  profoundly  philosophical,  this  book  is  of  a  very  popu. 
lar  character ;  and  notwithstanding  the  grave  truths  it  teaches, 
its  pages  have  been  pronounced  exciting  as  a  romance— be- 
witching as  a  fairytale.  Friends  of  the  chief  inspirer.  RAN- 
DOLPH, should,  at  least,  seek  to  see  and  read  it. 
Cloth,  with 'steel-plate  engraving  of  Dr.  Randolph,  pricetl-50- 
Postage  free. 

•.•For  sale,  wholesale  and  retail,  by  the  RKLIGIO-PHILO 
SOPHICAL  PUBLISHING  HOUSE,  Chicago. 


JUST  PUBLISHED. 


A  tf EW  BOOK. 

BY 

Andrew  Jackson  Davis. 

ENTITLED 
tftf 


OF  OUR 

HEAVENLY  HOME." 

This  fresh  volume  is  illustrated  with  diagrams  of  celestial 
objecte.jand  contains  nearly  three  hundred  pages.  Itis  areg 
alar  one  dollar  book,  but  being  a  sequel  and  companion  to 
"  Stellar  Key,"  it  is  published  at  the  same  price. 

In  cloth  binding,  75  cents,  postage  8  cents;  in  paper 
covers,  50  cents,  postage  6  cents. 


*»*For  sale,  wholesale  and  retail,  by  the  RKLieio-PniLO- 
pHiCAL  PUBLISHING  HOUSK.  Chicago. 

STARTMXO    FACTS 


MODERN   SPIRTUAMSM. 

By  JT.  B.  WOLFE,  M.  I>. 


Embodies  some  of  the  most  remarkable  and  wonderful  facts, 
ever  published,  and  of  the  deepest  interest  to  all.  The  truth^. 
the  history  herein  set  forth  in  such  graphic  and  absorbing  style, 
is  clearly  established  by  the  most  indubitable  evidence.  Among 
the  witnesses  are  some  of  the  prominent  members  of  the  press, 
«nd  others  equally  well  known.  The  book  is  a 

Large  1'imo.  543    pp.,    bound  In  extra  heavy 

cloth,  illuminated  with  four  elegant  steel 

portraits,  ami  numerous  flue  wood 

engraving*. 

PRICE,  $2.00.  POSTAGE,  14  CENTS. 

»*»For  sale  wholesale  and  retail,  by  the  Publishers,  RKLIGIO 
PHILOSOPHICAL  PUBLISHING  HOUSE.  Chicago. 


By  SARA  A.  UNDERWOOD. 

A  record  of  the  most  daring  heroines  of  Free  Thought,  being 
sketches  of  a  few  central  female  figures  in  the  history  of  Had- 
cal  Religion. 

CONTENTS. 
P  R  E  F  A  C  E :— Madame  Roland  .(Marie  Jeaima 

Philipon.) 
Mary  \VoU*tonecraft  Godwin.    Mary  W.  Godwin 

Shelley. 
George  Sa.iid.  (A.  Ii.  Aurore  Dudevant.)   Harriet 

Marti  neau. 

Frances  Wriglit  D'Arusinoiit.    Emina  Martin. 
-Uagaret   Keynolds  Chapplesmith.    Ernestine  L. 

Frances  Power  Cobbe.    George   Eliot.    (Marian 
Evans  Lewis.) 

This  work  fills  a  place  in  liberal  literature  that  should  not 
longer  remain  void.  Mrs.  Unnderwood  has  done  her  work 
with  a  kind  and  loving  heart,  and  done  it  well.  The  book  U 
finely  printed  on  extra-heavy  paper,  and  will  please  every 
buyer.  12mo.  cloth,  3fiO  pp.  Price  $1.75,  postage  free. 

VFor  sale,  wholesale  and  retail,  by  the  RKLIOIO-PHILO- 
•OPHK3AL  PUBLISHING  HOUSE.  Chicago. 


Prof.  W.  Denton's  Works. 

Co  3 

RADICAL  RHYMES.  They  are  written  in  the  samg  bold  and 
vigorous  style  that  characterizes  his  prose  writings.  Price. 
$1.'£5,  postage  ^  rrnN. 

lECTUKES  ON  GEOLOGY,  Tho  Past  and  Future  of  our 
Planet,  A  great  scientific  work.  Price,  $1.50;  postage,  10 
cents. 

THE  IRRECONCILABLE  RECORDS;  or.  Genesis  and  Geolo- 
gy—80  pp. ;  price,  paper  25  cents,  postage  2  cents ;  cloth  50c.. 
nostag  4  cents. 

WHAT\  UGHT.  Shows  how  we  can  tell  right  from  wrong, 
and  that  no  man  can  do  this  by  the  Bible.  Price  10  cents, 
postage  2  cents. 

COMMON  SENSE  THOUGHT  ON  THE  BIBLE;  for  common 
sense  people.  Proves  that  the  Bible  is  very  far  from  being 
what  the  clergy  claim  for  it.  Price,  10  cents ;  postage  2  cents, 

CHRISTIAN  IT  i"  NO  FINALITY;  or.  Spiritualism  superior  to 
Christianity.  Christianity  a  religion  to  be  outgrown  in  the 
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ORTHODOXY  FALSE,  SINCE  SPIRITUALISM  IS  TRUE. 
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THE  SEERS  OF  THE  AGES.  Sixth  Edition.  This  work 
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THE 

Religion  of  Spiritualism. 

BY  EUGENE  CROWELL,  M.  D., 

Author  of  "  The  Identity  qf  Primitive   Christianity  and 
Modern  Spiritualism,"  etc.,  etc. 


Among  the  prime  points  of  consideration  In  this  work  may 
be  mentioned:  What  is  Religion ?  Spiritualism  is  a  Religion; 
The  Religion  of  Spiritualism  identical  with  the  Religion  of 
Jesus. 

The  following  excerpt  from  its  pages  will  give  earnest  qtf  the 
flavor  of  the  whole : 

"  Spirit-communion  is  the  basis  of  Spiritualism.  Through  It 
a  future  life  is  demonstrated ;  while  the  nature  and  require- 
ments of  that  life,  and  our  duty  to  others  and  ourselves,  are 
alike  mafle  clear  to  every  earnest,  intelligent  soul.  By  it  the 
demands  of  the  heart  and  the  intellect  are  alike  satisfied.  If 
!he  teachings  of  Spiritualism  conflict  with  certain  dogmas  of 
Orthodox  religion,  they,  on  the  other  hand,  confirm  all  its 
cardinal  and  generally  acknowledged  truths.  God,  immor- 
tality, accountability,  the  necesssty  of  good  works,  pure  liv- 
ing, and  charity,  are  as  cardinal  to  Spiritualism  as  to  modern 
Christianity." 

Spiritualism,  the  author  holds,  does  not  seek  to  make  claim 
as  a  salvatory  agent  "upon  which  we  can  cast  the  burden  of  our 
sins ;  it  only  enlightens  our  minds,  makes  clear  our  d»ty,  and 
points  us  to  the  way  in  which  we  can  elevate  ourselves :  and  if, 
with  this  knowledse,  we  fail  to  walk  righteously,  the  greater 
is  our  condemnation  " 

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IMMORTALITY, 

I'..- i i „'   an  Account  of  the  Materialization  Phe- 
nomena of  Modern    Spiritualism,  <witli   Re. 
marks  on  the  Relations  of  the  Tacts  to 
Theology,  Morals  and  Ueligiuu. 

By  EPES  SARGENT, 

Author  of '  Planchette,  a  History  of  Modern  Spiritualism,"  etc. 
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N  E  W    WORK. 


"  M.  A.  (OX03T),"  0* 

PSYCHOORAPHY, 

ILLUSTRATED  WITH  DIAGRAMS. 


SYNOPSIS  OF  CONTENTS: 

List  of  Works  bearing  on  the  Subject. 

Preface. 

Introduction. 

Psychography  in  the  Past:  Guldenstubbe — Crookes. 

Personal  Experiences  in  Private,  and  with  Public  Psychics. 
General  Corroborative  Evidence. 

I.— That  Attested  by  the  Senses: 

1.— Of  Sight— Evidence  of— Mr.  E.  T.  Bennett,  a  Malvern 
Reporter,  Mr.  James  Burns,  Mr.  H.  D.  Jencken. 

2.— Of  Hearing— Evidence  of—  Mr.  Serieant  Cox,  Mr.  Geo. 
King,  Mr.  Hensleigh  Wedgewood,  Canon  Mouls,  Baroness  Von 
Vay,  G.  H.  Adshead,  W.  P.  Adshead,  E.  H.  Valter,  J.  L.  O'gul- 
livan,  Epes  Sargent.  James  O'Sargent,  John  Wetherbee,  H.  B. 
Storer,  C.  A.  Greenleaf,  Public  Committee  with  Watkins. 

II.— from  the  Writing  of  Languages  unknown  to  the  Psy- 
chic : 

Ancient  Greek— Evidence  of  Hon.  R.  Dale  Owen  and  Mr, 
Blackburn  ( Slade) »  Dutch,  German.  French.  Spanish,  Portu- 
guese (Slade) ;  Russian— Evidence  qfjfadaine  Blavatsky  (Wat- 
kins);  Romaic— Evidence  of  T.T.  TnnayenisC Watkins);  Chi- 
nese (Watkins). 

III.— From  Special  Tests  which  Preclude  Previous  Prepar- 
ation of  the  Writing  : 

Psychics  and  Conjurers  Contrasted;  Slade  before  the  Re- 
search Committee  of  the  British  National  Association  of  Spir- 
itualists ;  Slade  Tested  by  C.  Carter  Blake,  Doc.  Sci. ;  Evidence 


of— Rev.  J.  Page  Hoppe,  W.  H.  Harrison,  and  J.  Seaman 
(Slade) ;  Writing  within  Slates  securely  screwed  together- 
Evidence  of  Mrs.  Andrews  and  J.  Mould ;  Dictation  of  Words 


at  the  Time  of  the  Experiment— Evidence  of— A.  R.  Wallace, 
F.R.G.S.,  Hensieigh  Wedgwood,  J,  P. ;  Rev.  Thomas  Colley. 
W.  Oxley,  Georee  Wyld.  M.  D.,  Miss  Kisllngbury :  Writing  in 
Answer  to  Questions  Inside  a  Closed  Box— Evidence  of  Messrs. 
Adshead;  Statement  of  Circumstances  under  which  Experi- 
ments with  F.  W.  Monck  were  conducted  at  Keighley;  Writ- 
ing on  Glass  Coated  with  White  Paint— Evidence  of  Benjamin 
Coleman. 

Letters  addressed  to  The  Times,  on  the  Subject  of  the  Pros- 
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rett, F.R.S.E. 

Evidence  of  W.  H.  Harrison,  Editor  of  The  Spiritualist. 

Summary  of  Facts  Narrated. 

Deductions.  Explanations,  and  Theories. 

The  Nature  of  the  Force:  Its  Mode  of  Operation— Evidence 
of  C.  Carter  Blake,  Doc.  Sci.,  and  Conrad  Cooke,  C.  E. 

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Analysis  of  Religious  Belief,  by  Viscount  Amberley. . 
Age  of  i.eason  and  Examination  of  the  Prophecies, 

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An  Hour  with  the  Angels.  Cloth,  50c;  post.  4c.  Paper 
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Arabula ;  or,  The  Divine  Guest,  by  A.  J.  Davis 

Approachiug  Crisis,  by  A.  J.  Davis 

Apostles,  [translated  from  the  French]  Renan 

Astronomy  and  Worship  of  the  Ancients,  by  G.  Vale.. 
A  Stellar  Key  to  the  Summer  Land,  by  A.  J.  Davis, 

Paper,  50  cents ;  postage,  4  cents.  Cloth 

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Antiquity  and  Duration  of  the  World— G.  H.  Toulmln. 

An  Eye-Opener,  by  Zepa.  Cloth,  75  06 ;  paper. . , 

Avilude  or  Game  of  Birds 

Ancient  Faiths  and  Modern,  by  Thomas  Inman,  M.  D. 
Ancient  Pagan  and  Modern  Christian  Symbolism. 

Profusely  Illustrated.  Deeply  Interesting.  T.  Inman. 

Ancient  Symbol  Worship.  Finely  Illustrated 

Art  and  Symbolism  of  the  Primitive  Church— John  P. 

Lundy.  Beautifully  printed  and  Illustrated 

Allegories  of  Life,  by  Mrs.  J.  S.  Adams 

Arcana  of  Spiritualism,  by  Hudson  Tuttle. . .  

Bhagavad-Gita— Plain,  1.75  00 ;  Gilt 

Blasphemy,  by  T.  R.  Hazard 

Be  Thyself,  by  Win.  Denton 

Book  on  the  Microscope 


Biblical  Chronology.    M.  B.  Craven 

Bible  in  India 

Bible  Marvel  Workers— Allen  Putnam 

Buddhism  and  Christianity  Face  to  Face,  J.M.Peebles 

Cora  Tappan's  Lecture  on  Spiritualism 

Common  Sense  Theology— D.  H.  Hamilton 

Cnrtsrianity  before  Christ.    M.  B.  Craven 

Critical  History  of  the  Doctrine  of  a  Future  Life  in  all 

Ages  and  Nations.    Win.  R.  Alger 

Conant  Mrs.  J.  H.,  Biography  of 

.      "       "        "          "     fullgilt 

Complete  Works  of  A.  J.  Davis 

Childhood  of  the  World.  Prof.  Clodd.  Paper 

Chapters  from  the  Bible  of  the  Ages 

Criticism  on  the  Apostle  Paul,  in  Defense  of  Woman  8 

Rights,  etc.,  by  M.  B'  Craven -•  • 

Conjugal  Sius  against  the  Laws  of  Life  and  Health,  by 

A.  K.  Gardner,A.M.,  M.D 

Constitution  of  Man,  by  George  Combe 

Common  Sense  Thoughts  on  the  Bible— Win.  Denton. 

Cosmologv,  by  G.  W.  Ramsey •. 

Common  Sense,  by  Thomas  Paine  (political) 

Christ  Idea  in  History,  by  Hudson  Tuttle 

Christ  and  the  People,  by  A.  B.  Child,  M.  D •:•••:• 

Christianity  no  Finality,  or  Spiritualism  superior  to 

Christianity,  by  Win.  Denton •  • 

Criticism  on  the  Theological  Ideaof  Deity.  M.B.Craven 
Claims  of  Spiritualism;  embracing  the  Experience  of 

an  Investigator,  by  a  Medical  Man — 

Christianity  and  Materialism,  by  B.  F.  Underwood. . . . 

Constitution  of  the  United  States 

Career  of  Religious  Ideas— Hudson  Tuttle.  Paper 

Child's  Guirte  to  Spiritualism 

Cross  and  Steeple.    Hudson  Tuttle 

Complete  Works  of  Thomas  Pain*.    3  volumes 

Civil  and  Religious  Persecution  in  the  State  of  N  ew 

York,  by  T.  R.  Hazard 


8.00  20 

5004 

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1.50  10 

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2504 

1.2508 
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2002 

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63  06 

25  02 

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1000 

7.0048 

111  05 


Career  of  Religious  Ideas— Paper,  50 Cloth, 

Christianity  and  Infidelity— Humphrey-Bennett  Dis- 
cussion   

Christ  the  Corner-stone  of  Spiritualism— J.  M.  Peebles 

Does  Matter  do  it  All  V   Sargent's  Reply  to  Tyndall. 

Debate,  fcurgess  and  Underwood.  Cloth  1.00  00.  Paper 

Diakkalsm 

Defence  of  Spiritualism— Wallace 

Dictionary.    Webster's  Unabridged  (by  express) 

"  Pocket,  flexible  cover 

Dyspepsia,  its  Treatment,  etc 

Descent  or  Man,  by  Darwin 

Davenport  Brothers,— their  Remarkable  and  Interest- 
ing History 

Diegesis,  by  Rev.  Robert  Taylor,  written  by  him  while 
imprisoned  for  blasphemy.  This  work  is  an  account 
of  the  origin,  evidence,  and  early  history  of  Chris- 
tianity  

Devil's  Pulpit,  by  Rev.  Robert  Taylor,  with  a  sketch  of 
the  Author1'  Life 

Deluge,  by  Win.  Denton 

Death  and  the  After  Life— A.  J.  Davis.    Pa.  50  04.  Clo. 

Debatable  Land.    Hoa.  R.  D.  Owen 

Diakka— A.  J.  Davis.    Cloth,  50  00.    Paper 

Dialogues  for  Children 

Devil  and  his  Maker 

Danger  Signals,  by  Mary  F.  Davis 

Death  n  Light  of  Harmonial  Philosophy— M.  F.  Davis 

Darwinism  vs.  Spiritualism— Hon.  J.  M.  Peebles 

Discourses  through  Medlumshlp  of  Mr*.  C.  L.  V.  (Tap- 
pan)  Richmond 

Experiences  of  Judge  Edmonds  in  Spirit-life,  given 
through  Mrs.  (Tappan)  Richmond... ..... 

Epitome  of  Spiritualism  and  Spirit  Magnetism,  their 
Verity,  Practicability,  Conditions  and  Laws.  Paper 
85  05.  Cloth 

Eating  for  Strength. . . . .„.. ., ii •  •  v ~' ~' " •^.'- '.'-' 

Edwin  Drood.    Cloth  1.00  00.    Paper 

Exposition  of  Social  Freedom 

Essay  on  Man— Pope.  Cloth  gilt  1.00  00.  Board,  School 
Edition 

Errors  of  the  Bible,  Demonstrated  by  the  Truths  of  Na- 
ture, by  Henry  C.  Wright.  Paper  35  04.  Cloth 

Essence  of  Religion.  L.  Feuerbach.  Paper  35  02.  Cloth 

Exeter  Hall,  Theological  Romance.    Clo.  8»-'10.    Paper 

Empire  of  the  Mother  over  the  Character  and  Destiny 
of  the  Race,  by  H.  C.  Wright.  Paper  50  04.  Cloth. . . 

Electrical  Psychology.    Dods 

Kleusinian  and  Bacchic  Mysteries 

Ethics  of  Spiritualism,  by  Hudson  Tuttle, Paper. 

...  ,.  ,.  Cloth. 

Four  Essays  Concerning  Spiritism— Dr.  H.  Tledeman 

Fabulous  Tendency  of  Ancient  Authors,  by  M.  B. 
Craven 

Fu-Sang;  or.  The  Discovery  of  America,  by  Chinese 

Buddhist  Priests  In  the  5th  Century 

Flashes  of  Light  from  the  Spirit  Laud,  through  the 


31 

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mediumshlp  of  Mrs.  J.  H.  Conant 

Footfalls  on  the  Boundary  of  Another  World,  by  Rob't 

Dale  Owen 

Free  Thoughts  Concerning  Religion,  or  Nature  TS. 

Theology,  by  A.  J.  Davis.    Enlarged  Edition.   Cloth 

75  OS.  Paper 

Fountain.  A.  J.  Davis 

Future  Life.  Mrs.  Sweet 

Glimpses  of  the  Supernatural 

Genesis  and  Ethics  of  Conjugal  Love.  A.  J.  Davis 

PHin,  75  00.  Paper 

Good  Sense.  By  Baron  D'Holbach 

Great  Harmonia.  A.  J.  Davis.  5  vols.,  viz. :  Vol.  I, 

The  Physician :  Vol.  2,  The  Teacher ;  Vol.  3,  The  Seer ; 

Vol.  4,  The  Reformer ;  Vol.  5.  The  Thinker.    Each. . 


God  Idea  In  History,  by  Hudson  Tuttl 
father  and  Man  the  Image  ol 
M.  King 


God  the  Fa 


age  of  God,  by  Maria 


Golden  Melodies,  paper  25,  pos.  2  ;  board 
Great  Works  of  Thos.  Paine.    1  Vol 


Heroines  of  Free  Thought,  by  Sara  A.  Underwood  ..... 
Hated,  Prince  of  Persia,  His  Experience  In  Earth-life 

and  Spirit-life.     Illustrated  ........................... 

Hierophaut;  or.  Gleanings  from  the  Past—  G.C.Stewart 
Harbinger  of  Health,  by  A.  J.  Davis  .................... 

Harmonial  Man  ;  or.  Thoughts  for  the  Age,  A.  J.  Davis 

Cloth  ................................................... 

Haunted  School  House  .................................. 

History  and  Philosophy  of  Evil—  A.  J.  Davis.  Pa.  50  00. 

eioth  ................................................... 

Hajrward'a  Book  of  all  Religions,includiugSpiritualism 
How  and  Why  I  became  a  Spiritualist  .................. 

How  to  Bathe.  E.  P.  Miller,  M.  D.  Paper  30  04.  Cloth 
Hedged  In.  Elizabeth  Stuart  Phelps,  author  of  Gates 

Ajar  ................................................... 

Human  Physiology.  Statistical  and  Dynamical;  or.  The 

Conditions  and  Course  of  the  Life  of  Man.    J.  W. 

Draper,  M.  D.,  LL.D.    650  m>.    Cloth  ................ 

Hesperia;  a  Poem.    Cora  L.  V.  (Tappau)  Richmond.  . 
How  to  Paint.    Gardner  .......................  ..  ....... 

History  of  the  Intellectual  Development  of  Europe. 

J.  W.  Draper.    Revised  Edition.    2  Vols  ..........  ,.. 

Heathens  of  the  Heath—  cloth  1.50  OC.  Pacer  .......... 


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32 


Incidents  in  My  Life.    1st  Series.  Dr.  D.  D.  Home   In- 
troduction bv  Judge  Edmonds  ....................... 

Incidents  in  My  Life.    2nd  Series  ....................... 

Intuition,  a  Novel.    Mrs.  F.  .Kinsman...  .............. 

Important  Truths,  a  book  for  every  child.  ............. 

Is  the  Bible  Divine?    8.  J.  Finney.  Paper  85  02.  Cloth 
Is  there  a  Devil  ?    The  Argument  Pro  and  Con  ........ 

Infidel;  or.  Inquirer's  Text  Book^  Robert_Cooper 


Is  SpHtualism  True  ?    "VVm.  Denton  ------- 

Irreconcilable  Records  or  Genesis  nnd  Geology.   W. 

Denton.    Paper  25  02.    Cloth  ......................... 

Influence  of  Christianity  on  Civilization.    Underwood 
Identity  of  Primitive  Christianity  nnd  Modern  Spirit- 

ualism.   E.  Crowell.    Vol.  1.  2.50  00.    Vol.  II  ........ 

Isis  Unveiled.    2  Vols  .....................  ............. 

Jehovah  Unveiled;  or,  The  Character  of  the  Jewish 

Deity  Delineated  ...................................... 

Joan  of  Arc,  a  Biography  translated  from  the  French, 

by  Sarah  M.  Grimkee  ................................. 

JesuBOf  Nazareth,    By  Paul  and  Judas,  through  Alex- 

ander Smyth.    Remarkable  and  interesting  work.  . 
King  David  and  and  his  Times,  Common  Sense  View, 

by  H.  H.  Mason  ........................................ 

Key  to  Political  Science,  by  John  Senf  ................. 

Kidder's  Secrets  of  Bee-Keeping  ........................ 

Koran,  with  explanatory  notes,  by  George  Sale.  8vo. 

670  pp.    Best  edition  yet  published  ................... 

Keran,  with  Life  of  Mohammed,  translated  by  George 

Sale,  12mo.  472  pp  ..................................... 

King  of  the  Air-Poem,  by  Mrs.  O.  S.  Matteson  .......  . 

Life  Beyond  the  Grave  ................................. 

life  of  Thos.  Paine.  Paper. 

Life  of  Thomas  Paine.   Cloth.....  ..................... 

Life  of  Thomas  Paine,  with  critical  and  explanatory 
observations  of  his  writings,  by  George  Vale  ......... 


Llfeof  Jesus,  by  Kenan 

Love  and  the  Master  Passion,  by 

Living  Present—  J^JK!  Post^H.  C.  Wright,  pa.  50  04.  cl. 


er  Passion,  by  Dr.  P.  B.  Randolph.  . 


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Lessons  for  Children  About  Themselves.    A.  E.  New- 
ton.   Cloth 5000 

Life  of  Wm.  Denton,  by  J.  H.  Powell 25  04 

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Light  and  Color,  E.D.Babbltt 4.0000 

Lights  and  Shadows  of  Spiritualism,  by  D.  D.  Home. .  2.00  00 

Mental  Cure 1.50  10 

My  Wedding  Gift 25  00 

lioses  and  the  Israelites— M.  Munson 1.00  00 

Martyrdom  of  Man— Winwoofl  Reade 3.00  14 

Magic  Staff— A.  J.  Davie 1.7512 

Mediums— from  the  French  of  Allan  Kardec 1.50  00 

Masculine  Cross  and  Aacient  Sex  Worship 50  04 

Mental  MedicifiJ.    Evans 1.2510 

Man's  True  Saviors.    Denton 1002 

Ministry  of  Angels  Realized,  by  A.  E.  Newton 20  02 

Manual-for  Children  (forlyceums)— A.  J.  Davis.  Clo.,  60  06 

My  Affinity,  and  Other  Stories,  by  Lizzie  Doten 1.50  10 

Mediumshlp,  its  Laws  and  Conditions,  with  Brief  In- 
structions for  the  Formation  of  Spirit  Circles,  by  J. 

H.  Powell 2502 

Moravia,  Eleven  Days  at.    T.  R.  Hazard 10  02 

Mesmerism,  Spiritualism,  Witchcraft,  and  Miracle,  by 

Allen  Putnam so  02 

Modern  American  Spiriualism— 1848-1868.    By  Emma 

Hardinge 1.50  20 

Morning  Lectures,  (20  Discourses)  by  A.  J.  Davis 1,50  10 

Mediums  and  Mediumship,  by  T.  R.  Hazard 10  113 

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New  Gospel  of  Health.  A.  Stone,  M.D.  Clo.  2.50  18.  pa.  1.25  12 
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ualism   1.5010 

Nature's  Divine  Revelations,  by  A.  J.  Davis 8.50  24 

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Nerves  and  the  Nervous.    Dr.  Hallick 1.00  08 

Old  Theology  turned  Upside  Down,  by  T.  B.  Taylor,  A, 

M.    Cloth  1.2508.    Paper 1.0006 

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Denton 10  02 

Origin  of  Species,  by  Darwin 2.00  12 

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by  Sir  J.  Lubbock 2.00  12 

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Principles  of  Light  and  Color,  by  E.  D.  Babbitt 4.00  00 

Psychography,  by  "M.  A.  (Oxon)  '' 1.25  10 

Philosophic  Ideas :  or.  Trie  Spiritual  Aspect  Nature 

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Edition,  876  octavo  pages,  two  steel  plates.  Largest 
and  most  correct  edition  In  the  English  language. 
Contains  more  matter  than  the  London  Edition 
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Psalms  of  Life,  by  J.  S.  Adams.  Paper  75  Oi.  Board 
1.00  08.  Cloth 

Persons  and  Events,  by  A.  J.  Davis 

Planchette,  by  Epes  Sargent 

Penetralia,  by  A.  J.  Davis 

Problems  of  Life,  a  book  of  deep  thought 

Principles  of  Nature,  by  Mrs.  M.  M.  King 

Poems  from  the  Inner  Life— Lizzie  Doten.  1.50  08.  Gilt 

Philosophy  of  Creation,  by  Thomas  Paine,  throi  ?h 
Horace  Wood,  medium.  Cloth  60  06.  Paper 

Poems  of  Progress.    Lizzie  Doten.    1.5010.    Gilt 

Parturition  without  Pain.    M.  L.  Holbrouk,  M.  D...  . 

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Physical  Man,  his  Origin  and  Antiquity.  Hudson  Tuttie 

Progressive  Songster,  50  00.    Gilt 

Philosophy  of  Spiritual  Intercourse.  A.  J.  Davis.  Cloth 

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Rights  of  Man,  by  Thos.  Paine,  Cloth. 

Rights  of  Man.    Thomas  Paine.* 

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Radical  Discourses,  by  Denton 

Review  of  Clarke  on  Emerson — Lizzie  Doten , 

Radical  Rhvmes— Wm.  Denton 

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Satan,  Biography  of— K.  Graves 

Sermon  from  Shakespeare's  Text— Denton 

Sabbath  Question— A.  E.  Giles 

Sunday  Not  the  Sabbath 

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'     "       "       Vol.  2— Denton 

" „      3          

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Self-Contradictions  of  the  Bible 

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Snaps,  an  interesting  Game  of  Cards,  for  children 

Stories  of  Infinity,  from  the  French,  of  Camille  Fiam- 
marion.  Singular  and  interesting  work 

Spiritualism,  a  volume  of  Tracts— Judge  Edmonds. . . 

Startling  Facts  in  Modern  Spiritualism,NB.Wolfe,MD 

Seers  of  the  Ages— Hon.  J.  M.  Peebles 

Spirit-life  of  Theo.  Parker— Miss  Ramsdell.    Cloth. . . . 

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So.lourner  Truth's  Narrative  and  Life 

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Disease — W.  F.  Evans 

Stories  for  our  Children— H.  and  E.  Tuttie 

Spiritualism,  Defined  and  Defended— .T.  M.  Peebles.. 

Scattered  Leaves  from  the  Summer  Land, 

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Tobacco  and  its  Effects,  by  H.  Gibbons,  M.  D 

The  Temple ;  or.  Diseases  of  the  Brain  and  Nerves,  by 

A.  J.Davis.    1.5010.    Paper 

The  Yahoo,  a  Satirical  Rhapsody 

The  God  Proposed,  by  Demton 

To-Morrow  of  Death 

Three  Plans  of  Salvation 

The  Clock  Struck  One.    Sam'l  Watson 

The  Clock  Struck  Three  " 

Totem,  Game  for  Children 

The  Inner  Life ;  or.  Spirit  Mysteries  Explained— Davis 
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by  J  W  Draper 

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RELIGIO-PHILOSOPHICAL  JOURNAL 

A  large  Eight-Page  Weekly  Paper,  devoted  to  the  Expo- 
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"  It  is  reliable  and  alwayson  the  side  of  humanity  and  healthful  reform,  and 
eminently  worthy  the  patronage  of  Spiritualists  and  those  seeking  after  the 
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